Dr. Luca Morreale looked at the speed of tree growth and other factors in more than 48,000 forest plots in the northeastern United States tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Trees within 30 meters of an edge grew nearly twice as fast, and more sunlight fueled a higher tree density. Faster-growing trees packed tightly together mean that more carbon is stored in tree roots, trunks, and leaves. Morreale published the work in Nature Communications late last year. 

Another study by Hutyra’s team shows that the soil in urban forests could store more carbon than initially thought. Soils at the edges of urban forests hold on to carbon for longer than rural areas, meaning that edge soils have a larger storage capacity. 

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