In the middle of rural Staffordshire sit 30 hectares of wild, unmanaged oak woodland connected by a patchwork of farmers’ fields and hedgerows. Nothing out of the ordinary, you might think. But in fact this pocket of English countryside may yield extraordinary information that could transform global understanding of climate and environmental change on our trees and interdependent wildlife.
The woodland is the site of a unique scientific experiment – one of only two operating worldwide – called Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment (FACE), which has been launched by the recently set up Birmingham Institute for Forest Research (BIFoR).
