Drought and trees
by Chris, 28 May, 2016, 0 comments
Climate change is now a fact of life and one aspect of this is the occurrence of more extreme weather events. These can take the form of high winds / hurricanes, extended periods of heavy rainfall or conversely periods of drought. Clearly extreme weather can affect all ecosystems; woodlands and forests are no exceptions. Consequently in recent years, a number of organisations have been looking at different tree species in order to understand more about drought resistance (or the ability to withstand prolonged flooding - when the roots are deprived of oxygen).
INRA (French National Institute for Agricultural Research) has been looking at a small tree of the cypress Family (Cupressaceae) - Callitris tuberculata. This grows as a small evergreen tree or shrub in Western Australia. It can survive extreme drought and has been described as “the most drought resistant tree in the world”. Read more...
