"To ensure this carbon is stored for longer, we are also developing a trait to naturally slow decay by increasing metal accumulation in plants. Our trees accumulate metals from the soil, making their wood less digestible to fungi and slowing the return of CO2 to the atmosphere."
I really really like what you are doing here, but I have concerns about heavy metal accumulation in wood. I understand that you're talking about growing on old mining land, but what are the health implications of milling this wood? Accumulation of logs in a river after a flood? Beavers?
I want to emphasize I'm a fan of this kind of work, and LOVE the idea of faster growing, more durable wood. I think wood is a phenomenal building material as it is, and especially if it's storing even more carbon.
The concentrations of metal that would occur from natural hyperacclumulation is actually much less that what occur in the process of pressure treated wood for common commercial uses like decks and building materials. In this case any wood that accumulated metals would be harvested for useful products that benefit from being decomposition resistant. Think wood used in the outside of buildings.
Trees like poplar are often used for phytoremediation projects. There's a lot of prescient for doing this in scientific literature. Check out a few papers here:
Chen, E. L., Chen,Y. A., Chen, L. M., & Liu, Z. H. (2002). Effect of copper on peroxidase activity and lignin content in Raphanus sativus . Plant Physiology and Biochemistry , 40 (5). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0981-9428(02)01392-X
Hietala, A. M., Nagy, N. E., Burchardt, E. C., & Solheim, H. (2016). Interactions between soil pH, wood heavy metal content and fungal decay at Norway spruce stands. Applied Soil Ecology, 107. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2016.06.008
I really really like what you are doing here, but I have concerns about heavy metal accumulation in wood. I understand that you're talking about growing on old mining land, but what are the health implications of milling this wood? Accumulation of logs in a river after a flood? Beavers?
I want to emphasize I'm a fan of this kind of work, and LOVE the idea of faster growing, more durable wood. I think wood is a phenomenal building material as it is, and especially if it's storing even more carbon.