Forests and global warming

Parker, a forest ecologist at the Smithsonian Institution, has spent the past 22 years on a research project so repetitive, so time-consuming, that it impresses even researchers with the patience to count tree rings. Since 1987, he and a group of volunteers have embraced thousands of trees, slipped a tape measure behind them, and wrapped it around to measure the trees' girth.

This year, after about 250,000 hugs between them, the work paid off.

Parker's data, which showed the trunks gradually fattening over time, indicated that many of the trees were growing two to four times faster than expected. That raised questions about climate change's impact on the age-old rhythms of U.S. forests.

- Source: Washington Post (emphasis mine)

Of course the article does note that some other studies have found the opposite effect in the tropics - that it's getting too hot there. Ditto that there are finite water and food from which to draw on for growth. Still an interesting effect to note though.