Luyssaert and co-workers have performed a review of forest carbon balance world-wide and conclude that old-growth forests continue to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Old-growth forest in the northern hemisphere (600 million hectares) produces 10% of the world’s ecosystem production and these forests store approximately 1 pG of carbon per year (1 Pg = 1015 g). Authors predict that if these forests are disturbed by forestry this carbon will be released into the atmosphere. Read the whole paper in Nature or download a pdf here.
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