Science
Over the past decades, due to global warming, vegetation has changed in Russia's northern forests. The taiga, the largest forest in the world, is losing its symbol — larch — because, due to rising temperatures, trees that are better adapted to warm weather are “moving” north. Accordingly, the number of frost-resistant trees is decreasing.
According to Jacquelyn Shuman, a researcher from the University of Virginia, who studied the impact of global warming on northern forests, Siberian taiga larches, whose needles falls in autumn, giving way to evergreen conifers. This, in turn, will lead to a subsequent increase in temperature in the region.
Spruce against larch
Due to the fall of pine needles on larch trees in autumn and winter, the earth's surface, covered with snow, freely reflects sunlight and heat back into space. That is why the temperature in the taiga remains low. Unlike larches, evergreen trees like spruce don't fall their needles and absorb sunlight. As a result, the soil surface also heats up, which leads to the growth of evergreen trees to the detriment of larches. It turns out that spruce and fir trees are moving north, and global warming is causing even more warming.
Taiga carbon dioxide
Researchers have created a climate model that shows what will happen if evergreen trees continue to move north. The consequences of such changes are very disappointing.
Russia's northern forests grow on soil that contains a huge amount of carbon in permafrost. If changes in the taiga vegetation continue, then due to the increase in temperature, the soil will begin to thaw and carbon dioxide will enter the atmosphere. Researchers believe that this emission will account for about 15 percent of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at the moment.
Hardly anyone will like this scenario. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions can lead to an increase in temperature not only in the taiga region itself, but also on a global scale.