PLEA Network

5 September 2016, CSIRO ECOS, Wired woodlands signal stress as climate dries. In 2015, the normal ‘breathing’ pattern of the Great Western Woodlands in south-western Australia became erratic. In response to lack of rain, the old-growth woodland started to ‘breathe in’ oxygen and ‘breathe out’ carbon dioxide – the opposite of what occurs in normal plant photosynthesis, and a sign the trees were ailing. Lift your eyes above the orange- and gold-hued gimlets and salmon gums that characterise these woodlands and you can see the key to understanding this reversal of nature; a 36m tower equipped with highly sensitive instrumentation.It’s the technology in that tower that has been tracking the trees’ struggle for survival; collecting data on the activity of the woodland by the second and updating daily CSIRO researchers based in Perth. The tower, run by CSIRO researchers Dr Suzanne Prober and Dr Craig Macfarlane, is a part of Australia’sTerrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) OzFlux Facility. A series of 24 OzFlux towers and 10 associated Supersites have been established as sentinels of change across the country. Toward the TERN goal of creating a national ecosystem observatory, each monitors changes in carbon, water and biodiversity in a nationally significant landscape. Read More here