VICTORIA — A study out of University of Victoria says nature is finding a way to heal from the devastation of British Columbia's mountain pine beetle outbreak.
The research from the U-Vic-led Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions says global warming is making B.C. forests grow faster and the trees are taking in more carbon dioxide, the gas associated with the globe's steadily climbing temperatures.
Under normal conditions, forests act as so-called "carbon sinks," scrubbing the atmosphere by pulling in CO2 while releasing oxygen.
But researchers say that over the span of the pine beetle epidemic, dead and rotting trees pumped more carbon into the environment, helping global warming by turning B.C.'s forests into a gas producers.
Lead researcher Vivek Arora says the waning outbreak means forests are recovering, and oxygen output due to speedy growth caused by climate change will soon compensate for the carbon emitted by rotting trees.
The study, which was published in the publication Geophysical Research Letters, says the switch will happen by 2020, faster than scientists had expected.
