Amanda Brackett

Wildfires have long been known to burn large swaths of forests, wreaking havoc on tree canopies and communities that the forests surround, but a new study from Oregon State University says there hasn’t been enough consideration of how heat can impact the growth of new trees. The research, published in the Canadian Journal of Forest Research, studies the stresses that temperature spikes can have on young trees, also known as seedlings. Researchers developed a metric known as Stress-Degree Hours, which measures the stress that higher than average temperatures over a given period of time can have on young plants. Data was gathered using Douglas fir seedlings in western Oregon, during the region’s heat dome in 2021. …The study shows that for every 10 per cent increase in canopy cover, maximum temperatures two centimetres above the ground decreased by 1.3 C.