Sweden's Tree Line Moving at Fastest Rate for 7,000 Years

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0116-06.htm

Climate change
over the past two decades has caused Sweden's tree line to move north
at a faster rate than at any time in the past 7,000 years, Swedish
researchers have said.

Autumn-coloured trees are pictured in the Swedish county of Jaemtland. Climate change over the past two decades has caused Sweden's tree line to move north at a faster rate than at any time in the past 7,000 years, Swedish researchers have said.(AFP/File/Sven Nackstrand)

"The tree line has moved by up to 200 meters (656 feet) in some places.
Trees have not grown at such high levels for around 7,000 years," Leif
Kullman, a professor at Umeaa University's department of ecology and
environmental science, told AFP Tuesday.

The tree line represents a limit in mountainous, northern and southern latitudes beyond which trees do not grow.

"Recordings began in 1915 but the trend has intensified in the past 15 to 20 years," Kullman said.

Sweden's climate in the past 20 years was as mild as it had been some 7,000 years ago, he added.

While
some of the change could be explained by natural phenomena such as the
reduction in global volcanic activity -- allowing more sunlight to warm
the Earth -- the trend was clearly provoked for the most part by
man-made factors.

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