Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

phys.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 147 posts

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#61

Post by s1artibartfast »

hbossy wrote: post #2

>The tallest tree they found measured about 180 feet tall (54.87 meters)—giant compared with most native UK species, but dwarfed by their American counterparts. I wonder if that have anything to do with communicating vessels effect. The really big ones grow in the mountains, so I imagine it's easier to pump water that high if trees roots can "climb" the slope next to trunk.

This isnt really a factor. The slope may change ground level a few feet actross the roots, but even then it would reduce height on the uphill side and increase it on the downhill side

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#62

Post by enriquto »

blincoln wrote: post #31
enriquto wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you can plant a very large number of trees which live to maturity and what, then? When plants die, their matter is decomposed by fungi and all their carbon is released back into the atmosphere (unless the dead plant matter is buried). The act of planting trees, in itself, is carbon neutral. Not good, not bad, just irrelevant to the presence of carbon: the carbon is still in the cycle of life within the biosp…

> The act of planting trees, in itself, is carbon neutral. Not good, not bad, just irrelevant to the presence of carbon: the carbon is still in the cycle of life within the biosphere. Isn't this a little like saying that humans in a confined space don't actually use up any of the oxygen, because it's still technically present in the CO2 they exhale? > For example, by cutting trees and burying their wood in sealed min…

> What would be the net benefit of treating it like radioactive waste versus using it as a construction material?

Man, that was just a silly example to illustrate the absurdity of the situation. We are currently unearthing millions of years worth of sequestered carbon per year and dumping it all into the atmosphere. Talking about planting trees is ridiculous at this point. Like pumping water out of the sinking titanic with a champagne glass. If we don't want to increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere we just need to stop putting it in!

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#63

Post by pjc50 »

treprinum wrote: post #30

Now re-forest the whole Scottish Highlands please...

Somewhat disputed as to whether this is a good idea, but there's definitely plans to expand non-plantation "natural" forest for the ecosystem benefits. Main problem is the deer.

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#65

Post by [deleted] »

DrBazza wrote: post #8

BBC version of same article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623 > An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California. > To assess how these towering giants are adapting to their UK home, scientists selected a sample of nearly 5,000 trees to study at Wakehurst, Benmore Botanic Garden in Argyllshire, Scotland and Havering Country Park in Essex. > However, while the trees are…

[deleted]

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#66

Post by __turbobrew__ »

lenerdenator wrote: post #18
lukan wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the seeds only being able to grow successfully in full sun and in mineral-rich soils, free from competing vegetation. Although the seeds can germinate in moist needle humus in the spring, these seedlings will die as the duff dries in the summer. They therefore require periodic wildfire to clear competing vegetation and soil humus before successful regeneration can occur" (Wikipedia) They need fire and sun. (And mayb…

me m8 dave can provide the fire so long as the old bill doesn't find out about it (lad's on magistrate's orders to not have matches)

OI wherz ur matches loicense!?

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#67

Post by BlueTemplar »

blincoln wrote: post #31
enriquto wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> unless you can plant a very large number of trees which live to maturity and what, then? When plants die, their matter is decomposed by fungi and all their carbon is released back into the atmosphere (unless the dead plant matter is buried). The act of planting trees, in itself, is carbon neutral. Not good, not bad, just irrelevant to the presence of carbon: the carbon is still in the cycle of life within the biosp…

> The act of planting trees, in itself, is carbon neutral. Not good, not bad, just irrelevant to the presence of carbon: the carbon is still in the cycle of life within the biosphere. Isn't this a little like saying that humans in a confined space don't actually use up any of the oxygen, because it's still technically present in the CO2 they exhale? > For example, by cutting trees and burying their wood in sealed min…

You seem to be assuming that the carbon will stay locked in the construction materials. But I doubt that it will, what will happen to it after the building is destroyed ? Either it will have been by fire, or as waste, will likely be back in the atmosphere after wood-eating life is done with it.

I wonder how feasible it would be to put wood (from particularly dense species ?) on the bottom of the expanding anoxic ocean zones ? That seems to be one of the rare locations where the only thing that could possibly degrade it are sulphur-"breathing" bacteria, which seem to have trouble digesting lignin ?

But even here, it might still be easier to just stop burning fossil fuels ? EDIT : ninjaed

P.S.: For an opposite example, see how concrete reabsorbs over decades back up to half of the CO2 exhaled during its production.

P.P.S.: Supposedly, soil-buried charcoal is also decently stable, I guess even fungi find it unpalatable ??

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#68

Post by pvaldes »

daveslash wrote: post #51

"There are an estimated half a million -->redwoods giant sequoias (arrows mine) Giant Sequoias ( Sequoiadendron giganteum ) and Coast Redwoods ( Sequoia sempervirens ) are two different trees! Note: It seems that my California nomenclature uses "Redwood" to refer specifically to Coast Redwoods, whereas other regions use "Redwood" to refer to all 3 species of Sequoioideae (Coast Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Dawn Redwoo…

> Coast Redwoods are of the genius "Seqoia",

on the genus Sequoia

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#69

Post by bcrosby95 »

simonsarris wrote: post #46
nuc1e0n wrote: post #44

Is the timber they produce good quality for building with? I might like to invest in sequoia farms for carbon capture credits then timber later on.

The wood is somewhat brittle. When they felled lots of them in the US 100 years ago, the loggers found to their great disappointment little use for the resulting wood, and turned most of the giant trees into... matchsticks, and that sort of scrap thing. Possibly the trees can be harvested more delicately today, though.

They cut down trees that were 10+ feet wide to make matchsticks? That makes the whole affair even more disappointing.

Re: Giant sequoias are a rapidly growing feature of the UK landscape

#70

Post by digging »

nuc1e0n wrote: post #44

Is the timber they produce good quality for building with? I might like to invest in sequoia farms for carbon capture credits then timber later on.

Would you wait until they're mature? Good to have a multi-millennium business plan.
Post reply on HN