An analysis of tulip trees has revealed a previously unknown type of wood. It could explain why the trees are so good at sequestering carbon and help our efforts to do the same.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge in England and Jagiellonian University in Poland and took samples of 33 different tree species from Cambridge University's botanic gardens.
They then froze these samples using a nitrogen bath and looked at them under a low-temperature scanning electron microscope. When they got to the tulip tree sample and examined its secondary cell wall, they were stunned to see that they had just stumbled upon an entirely different type of wood.
The researchers believe the unique structure of the tulip tree's secondary cell wall is responsible for its fast growth rate, but they also think it may have evolved in response to a rapidly declining presence of carbon in the atmosphere about 30 to 50 million years ago. With less carbon dioxide available for use in photosynthesis, the thinking goes, the trees developed these unique cellular structures to hold on to as much of it as possible.
That makes them great at helping reduce the overabundance of the gas in our atmosphere today and may help scientists learn how to use trees to an even greater extent to combat climate warming.