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Looking to Grow Trees with CO-2 Appetite
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MARCH 26, 2004--Researchers at Michigan Tech have received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop poplars that can take up more of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.
Professor David Karnosky and Associate Professor Chung-Jui Tsai of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science recently were awarded a three-year, $916,231 grant from the DOE's Office of Biological and Environmental Research to test several varieties of hybrid poplar trees. The trees will be grown in carbon dioxide-enriched atmosphere at the Aspen FACE site in Rhinelander, Wis., and at the POPFACE site in Viterbo, Italy.
Aspen FACE (Free-Air CO2 Enrichment) opens a window on the future of our northern forests. It is the world's largest, open-air climate change research facility, and the only FACE site where scientists can study the impact of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and ozone on forest ecosystems.
The researchers aim to analyze trees that thrive in a CO2-rich environment, using gene expression studies to isolate the genes responsible for acquiring and storing carbon. Scientists could then use this knowledge to develop a new generation of trees that could help mitigate global warming.
Global warming has been blamed on an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide. Plants naturally remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow and store it, a process known as carbon sequestration. Thus, scientists theorize that fast-growing trees could help stave off climate changes associated with the rise in atmospheric CO2.
This award is the latest in a series of DOE grants supporting global-change research at Aspen FACE. A number of groundbreaking discoveries have resulted, along with numerous publications in leading scientific journals. "This is an excellent use of our FACE facility to examine the functional genomics of carbon sequestration," said Karnosky, who is the director of Aspen FACE.
The DOE grant establishes a consortium of researchers involved in plant genetics and forest ecology. In addition to MTU's Karnosky and Tsai, the project includes Gopi Podila of the University of Alabama-Huntsville, Gail Taylor of the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, Alistair Rogers of Brookhaven National Lab and Don Riemenschneider of the USDA Forest Service North Central Station.
Aspen FACE is funded jointly by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research; the National Science Foundation; Global Change Program, USDA Forest Service; North Central Research Station, USDA Forest Service; Michigan Technological University; the USDA National Research Initiative Program; Brookhaven National Laboratory; and Natural Resources Canada. |
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