Tbf FaceDeer is kind of right in that there are other forms of vegetation that work better, but they are terrain/location specific, ie: prairie grasses, the kind the buffalo lived off of, have root systems that can be 8-10 ft deep and do in fact live forever.
Where FaceDeer is incorrect is that trees themselves are not carbon sinks. Their root systems are what hold the carbon.
Tbf FaceDeer is kind of right in that there are other forms of vegetation that work better, but they are terrain/location specific, ie: prairie grasses, the kind the buffalo lived off of, have root systems that can be 8-10 ft deep and do in fact live forever.
Where FaceDeer is incorrect is that trees themselves are not carbon sinks. Their root systems are what hold the carbon.
Roots rot too. Otherwise the ground underneath forests would have hundreds of meters of accumulated root mass built up over the millennia.
Yes they do. But they stay underground, and if the soil remains undisturbed the carbon stays trapped underground.
Decay turns carbon into carbon dioxide, a gas. Unless it’s injected into deep geological structures it doesn’t stay underground.
Depending on tree species, most of the carbon can be above-ground. This is really common in the tropics
You’re right. I was only considering the boreal forest and left out southern stock. My bad.