Fig.1. Trees like this Pinus ponderosa will struggle to recover from droughts (Credit: Thayne Tuason via Flickr)
In the past few decades, the world’s forests have absorbed up to 30 percent of annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Forests act as carbon sinks, or reservoirs that accumulate and store carbon. Unlike humans who release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere - either through breathing or fossil fuels - trees take in this compound from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to use for energy and growth. The long-term storage of carbon in trunks, branches, litter, or soil is known as carbon sequestration.
