Live Roundups Editor's Desk Insights Executive Ops Weather About 🔍
Home › Environment › Trees may store less carbon than expected in the future
Environment

Trees may store less carbon than expected in the future

Trees may store less carbon than expected in the future
Phys.org Friday 12 June 2026, 18:00 UTC 1 min read
Key Points

It's intuitive to think that if a tree is photosynthesizing, it's also growing. But that's not necessarily so—and a new study of oak trees, published in the journal Science Advances, found that even as they photosynthesize late into the year, their growth stops by midsummer.

It's intuitive to think that if a tree is photosynthesizing, it's also growing. But that's not necessarily so—and a new study of oak trees, published in the journal Science Advances, found that even as they photosynthesize late into the year, their growth stops by midsummer.
Science Advances (ORG)
Originally published by Phys.org Read original →

Related Stories

'We need more clean, homegrown, cheap European energy': EU Climate Commissioner

'We need more clean, homegrown, cheap European energy': EU Climate Commissioner Issued on: Modified: With Europeans sizzling in a record-breaking heatwave in May, and lands and rivers facing severe drought conditions in April, the effects of extreme climate-related events are becoming increasingly obvious. We sit down with the EU's Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, Dutch politician Wopke Hoekstra, to talk about the EU's carbon emissions reduction targets, the next COP...

France 24 2h ago

Landscape water velocities across Europe reshape nitrogen pollution risk under climate change

Nitrate pollution is a growing global environmental challenge due to the extensive use of fertilizer. A study published in Science, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) with the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), shows that both the amount of water moving through landscapes and how fast it moves play a key role in nitrogen pollution risk.

Phys.org 2h ago

Engineered bacterium turns potato starch into biodegradable plastic in 24 hours

Every year, hundreds of millions of tons of petrochemical-based plastics are produced, much of which ends up in the environment or is incinerated. This exacerbates greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental crisis caused by plastic pollution. Now, a study led by the University of Barcelona has produced a biodegradable bioplastic of high industrial value—polyhydroxybutyrate, or PHB—from unprocessed potato starch in a single 24-hour step, a strategic breakthrough that could help reduce...

Phys.org 3h ago

Climate change is causing fish to move to cooler water—what if their escape route is blocked?

Around the world, ocean warming is causing fish to move poleward in search of cooler water.

Phys.org 3h ago