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Forest
Myth-
conceptions? | | |
 WATER
 Trees bring rain?
As trees grow, they absorb water from the soil
and transpire it through their leaves.
In so doing,
they help circulate water that falls on the soil back into the atmosphere,
where it can fall again as rain.
Thus trees can help maintain rainfall in a given area,
but will not necessarily bring it where there was none before.
Other vegetation types use water and circulate it –
trees are not necessarily the best at doing this.
However, where there is a lot of fog or cloud, such as on mountains,
trees can help intercept the moisture
and cause it to condense on their leaves and drip onto the ground.
This can increase the humidity around the trees
but does not increase rainfall itself.
Eucalypts use too
much water?
“Too much” depends on your point of view!
Many eucalypts
(not all – they are very bio-diverse with over 500 species)
are fast growing.
Faster growth means faster use of water.
However,
eucalypts are more efficient in their use of water
than some other tree species.
If your aim is to produce timber quickly,
then there must be enough water.
If your aim is to conserve water for agriculture,
then trees and crops will be in competition,
and fast growing trees should not be used near to crops.
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