The estimates of trees lost to lightning strikes do not include those lost in wildfires triggered by lightning, the team said
Image for representational purposes only (Photo Courtesy: iStock)
About 320 million trees could be getting killed by lightning strikes every year, accounting for about two to three per cent of the world's plant biomass loss, according to a study.
The tree loss is further estimated to emit between 0.77 and 1.09 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide yearly, which researchers from the Technical University of Munich, Germany, said was comparable to 1.26 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide released every year from the burning of plants in wildfires.
The estimates of trees lost to lightning strikes, published in the journal Global Change Biology, do not include those lost in wildfires triggered by lightning, the team said.
As the planet continues to warm, lightning strikes are expected to become more common, and "so, it's worth paying closer attention to this largely overlooked disturbance," lead author Andreas Krause, researcher at the chair of land surface-atmosphere interactions, Technical University of Munich, said.
"Currently, lightning-induced tree mortality is highest in tropical regions. However, models suggest that lightning frequency will increase primarily in middle- and high-latitude regions, meaning that lightning mortality could also become more relevant in temperate and boreal forests," Krause said.
The findings support those from previous studies, indicating that lightning is an important cause of tree death in many forests, the authors said.
Damage to forests due to lightning strikes is hard to detect and has only been systematically studied in select locations of the world, they said.
The team added that the number of the world's trees directly damaged by lightning strikes every year is unclear and that their research has developed the first method to help provide estimates.
The ecological impact of lightning is underestimated, the researchers said.
"We're now able not only to estimate how many trees die from lightning strikes annually, but also to identify the regions most affected and assess the implications for global carbon storage and forest structure," said Krause.
The authors "find that lightning kills around 320 million trees each year, thereby causing (nearly) 0.25 (gigatonnes of carbon) of dead biomass."
"Clearly, there is a need to better understand the ecological impacts of lightning in different forest types. Our simulations provide a first estimate of lightning-induced tree mortality and associated carbon impacts at a global scale," they wrote.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
