| quote | Eucalyptus and related Myrtaceae plants are known for being able to recover from high intensity fires much better than other plants. ... As the Earth warms and more areas begin to resemble Australia's fire-dependent landscapes, the Australian researchers suggest that eucalyptus trees and related plants could form forests and woodlands that might create "an excellent long-term carbon bank for reducing atmospheric CO2" ... By resprouting from the trunk and branches, eucalypts preserve most of their aboveground woody biomass after wildfires ... In contrast, other trees that do not resprout epicormically lose their aerial wood after high-intensity fire ... Consequently, in non-epicormic resprouters, the woody biomass decays and the stored carbon is released after the fire. |