Dry Deciduous, Madagascar – CO2 700 KG

Description

Dry Deciduous – Madagascar

Average CO2 Offset per tree: 700 KG
Average Lifetime: 100-300 years

The project
The Madagascar dry deciduous trees represent a tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of endemic plant and animal species but has suffered large-scale clearance for agriculture. They are among the world’s richest and most distinctive dry forests and included in the Global 200 ecoregions by the World Wide Fund. Most Dry Deciduous forests have already been destroyed by human action.The remaining forest is severely fragmented. Burning, grazing, and logging are the major threats, and siltation, overfishing and invasive species impact the wetlands.

By financing one tree in this project, you will plant one of the following Dry Deciduous trees (funds are equally split among species, in order to support biodiversity):

Aphananthe sakalava; Pachypodium rutembergianum; Baudouinia flugeiformis; Paracarphallea pervilleana;
Bismarckia nobilis; Poupartia birrea caffre; Breonadia salincina; Poupartia sylvatica; Bussela perieri;
Rhopalocarpus similis; Canarium Rouvafia; Carica papaya; Samanea Saman; Cedrelopsis grevei; Sclerocarya
birrea subsp. Caffra; Ceiba pentandra; Sclerocroton melanostictus; Cerbera manghas; Sorindeia;
Commiphora guillauminii; Stereospermum euphorioides; Commiphora madagascariensis;Strychnos;
Commiphora Pervilleana; Strychnos madagascariensis; Coptosperma madagascariense; Symphonia;
Dalbergia chlorocarpa; Syzygium cumini; Diospyros aculeata; Tamarindus indica; Diospyros sp.; Tectona
grandis; Diospyros tropohylla; Terminalia mantaly; Dupuya madagascariensis; Treculia perrieri; Entada
leptostachya Zatropha; Adansonia sp; Albizia saman; Albizzia lebeck; Anacardium occidentale; Erythroxylum
nitidulum; Grewia; Khaya madagascariensis; Mangifera indica.

Definition of Deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous means “falling off at maturity” and “tending to fall off”, in reference to trees that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn. The process of loosing leaves is called abscission.
Many deciduous trees flower during the period when they are leafless, as this increases the effectiveness of pollination. The absence of leaves improves wind transmission of pollen for wind-pollinated plants and increases the visibility of the flowers to insects in insect-pollinated plants. This strategy is not without risks, as the flowers can be damaged by frost or, in dry season regions, result in water stress on the plant.

What happens when leaf drop
Leaf drop or abscission involves complex physiological signals and changes within plants. The process of photosynthesis steadily degrades the supply of chlorophylls in foliage; plants normally replenish chlorophylls during the summer months. When autumn arrives and the days are shorter or when plants are drought-stressed, deciduous trees decrease chlorophyll pigment production, allowing other pigments present in the leaf to become apparent, resulting in non-green colored foliage. The brightest leaf colors are produced when days grow short and nights are cool, but remain above freezing. These other pigments include carotenoids that are yellow, brown, and orange. Anthocyanin pigments produce red and purple colors, though they are not always present in the leaves. Rather, they are produced in the foliage in late summer, when sugars are trapped in the leaves after the process of abscission begins. Parts of the world that have showy displays of bright autumn colors are limited to locations where days become short and nights are cool. In other parts of the world, the leaves of deciduous trees simply fall off without turning the bright colors produced from the accumulation of anthocyanin pigments.

Advantages and disadvantages over evergreen trees
Plants with deciduous foliage have advantages and disadvantages compared to plants with evergreen foliage. Since deciduous plants lose their leaves to conserve water or to better survive winter weather conditions, they must regrow new foliage during the next suitable growing season; this uses resources which evergreens do not need to expend. Evergreens suffer greater water loss during the winter and they also can experience greater predation pressure, especially when small. Deciduous trees experience much less branch and trunk breakage from glaze ice storms when leafless, and plants can reduce water loss due to the reduction in availability of liquid water during cold winter days. Losing leaves in winter may reduce damage from insects; repairing leaves and keeping them functional may be more costly than just losing and regrowing them. Removing leaves also reduces cavitation which can damage xylem vessels in plants. This then allows deciduous plants to have xylem vessels with larger diameters and therefore a greater rate of transpiration (and hence CO2 uptake as this occurs when stomata are open) during the summer growth period.

Please note that average lifetime and KG of CO2 offset are conservative estimations made by Evertreen based on external consultants, papers, articles and comparable platforms. In case of numerous planting orders, dry deciduous trees in this project may be substituted by agroforestry or mangrove trees of the following species:

Anacardium occidentale
Avincinia Marina;
Carica papaya;
Bruguiera gumnooshiza;
Mangifera indica;
Ceriops tagel;
Rhizophora mucronate;

 

These trees are planted in Madagascar by our planting partner Eden Projects.