Russia (bbabo.net), - Employees of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences became interested in the problem associated, according to their hypothesis, with global warming. The researchers decided to establish the cause of the drying of the tops of coniferous trees in permafrost. Scientists managed to trace the connection between climate change and damage to larch trees growing in Siberia, they said today at the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Employees of the Forest Institute. V. N. Sukacheva calculated that for several decades, trees in permafrost conditions have not had enough absorbed moisture and nutrients dissolved in it. As a result, the structure of annual tree rings is disturbed. Their cells lose their ability to absorb moisture and transfer it from the roots along the entire trunk to the crown. This is what causes it to dry out.

The unfavorable process of changing tree rings began, according to experts, in the 80s of the last century, along with intense warming and increasing aridity. The air temperature has a particularly noticeable effect on the growth of annual rings and the structure of cells in diseased trees.

“Our data shows a pronounced reaction of trees to the influence of climatic factors. In general, damaged trees are more sensitive to weather conditions than healthy ones (…). This leads to slow radial growth and a weak intensity of cell division in spring. As a result, relatively narrow annual rings , consisting of a small number of cells with a reduced ability to transport water," explained Dmitry Mashukov, junior researcher at the Forest Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The results of the work of Siberian scientists were published by the journal Contemporary Problems of Ecology.

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