The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A study near Thompson is challenging conventional theories by indicating that global warming could benefit boreal forests. CBC reports that scientists have enclosed a section of forest inside a greenhouse and are heating up the underlying soil to measure the impact on the trees. Early results seem to refute the notion that the warming would speed up decomposition and release carbon dioxide, the report said. "That was the fear with the organic matter in these very deep organic soils here in the boreal region," Tom Gower, one of the researchers, told CBC. "All the preliminary evidence suggests that's not going to be the case, and these forests will actually take up more (carbon dioxide) and become a stronger carbon sink, and that's good."
