Scientists have found a tree that effectively retains carbon (5 photos)

And now they are thinking about planting as many of these trees as possible. For the benefit of the environment, of course.





As we all remember, humanity pollutes the planet terribly with everything it can, and because of this, global warming will soon begin and we will all be finished. And it does not matter that the temperature cycle of the planet changes every few hundred years, these are all trifles. People are to blame for everything, or rather, their life activity. But thanks to plants, the harm from us is at least a little, but reduced.

One adult tree absorbs more than 21 kilograms of CO2 from the air per year, and half a hectare of adult trees absorbs the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by a car driving 42,000 km.

So, samples of 33 different tree species from the botanical gardens of Cambridge University were taken from the Jagiellonian University (JU) in Poland and the University of Cambridge in England. They conducted a series of tests and found out that there is one tree that is especially good at cleaning the air of carbon.



Liriodendron tulipifera

This miracle is called the tulip tree. There are two species in nature: Liriodendron tulipifera, which grows in North America, and Liriodendron chinense, which grows in central and southern China.

These trees are ancient relatives of the magnolia and can quickly grow to more than 30 meters in height. They have been growing on our planet for a very long time.





A scanning electron microscope image of microfibrils inside the secondary cell walls of tulip trees

Lead author of the study Jan Liczakowski explained: “Secondary cell walls are the basic building block of wood, and their architecture gives wood the strength we rely on for construction. They are also the largest store of carbon in the biosphere, so it is important to understand their diversity to advance our carbon sequestration programs.”

Not only do researchers believe that the tulip tree's unique secondary cell wall structure is responsible for its rapid growth, but they also believe that it may have evolved in response to the rapid decline in atmospheric carbon around 30 to 50 million years ago.



Liriodendron chinense leaf

With less carbon dioxide available to use in photosynthesis, trees are thought to have evolved these unique cell structures to trap as much of it as possible. This makes them well-suited to help reduce the excess gas in our atmosphere today.

Scientists believe they can use trees to do even more to combat global warming.