Australian red gum trees under threat due to rising CO2 levels, say researchers

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New Delhi: The burning of fossil fuels has caused a grave threat to loom large over the ecosystem, triggering a lot of devastation.

The rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels due to this activity has triggered warning signs for the iconic Australian river red gum tree.

Researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) on Friday confirmed the threat.

River red gums are Australia's most widespread eucalyptus tree, found on river banks throughout the country.

A study by Carsten Kulheim from the ANU's Research School of Biology has shown that rising levels of CO2 threatens the future of the species.

Kulheim said that rising levels of carbon dioxide would have an adverse effect on the trees' production of "defence chemicals", putting them at risk of being stripped by harmful insects which are currently repelled by the chemicals, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The future of the iconic river red gum is unclear even without taking the further effects of climate change into account," Kulheim said. "River red gums grow across all of mainland Australia and they are the most widespread gum tree we have.

"Since (CO2 level) affects how the trees are able to defend themselves against leaf-eating animals, we wanted to find out how future increases in CO2 would affect river red gums defence chemicals."

Kulheim said the study uncovered a dark future for the river red gum should CO2 levels continue to increase, hinting that the defence chemicals could change, leaving them vulnerable to being destroyed.

(With IANS inputs)