–Parnad Basu, Amity University Kolkata
The fast-growing trees die younger whereas slow-growing trees don’t, reported in a recent study led by the University of Leeds. The study shows, among many things, temperature plays a significant role. An increase in temperature of one degree shortens the lives of these trees by approximately 30 years. Since the trees are growing at a rapid speed, they don’t get enough time to develop a sustainable defense mechanism against diseases or insect attacks. Slow-growing trees are much more accustomed to those environmental adversities. Recently we have been planting fast-growing trees only as it grows much faster. The study also shows that for this reason, there will be a vacuum in trees in the coming years especially in rain forests. There are slow-growing trees which are being supplanted by the vulnerable fast-growing trees. This will surely take a toll on the carbon intake of forests.
Source: The paper Forest carbon sink neutralized by pervasive growth-lifespan trade-offs, R. J. W. Brienen, L. Caldwell, L. Duchesne, S. Voelker, J. Barichivich, M. Baliva, G. Ceccantini, A. Di Filippo, S. Helama, G. M. Locosselli, L. Lopez, G. Piovesan, J. Schöngart, R. Villalba and E. Gloor, 8 September 2020, Nature Communications.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17966-z
Can antibody existence ensure protection against COVID-19?
–Sayak Banerjee, Amity University Kolkata Due to concerns over India’s Covid-19 sharp ascend, the critical issue of antibodies poses a struggle for the scientists as they try to understand its impact on the disease progression. They stated that, while neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) generated against the SARS-Cov-2 may inhibit its entry into the host cell, other […]