New Scientist: Destruction wreaked by hurricanes over the past 150 years has severely affected the ability of US forests to store carbon, say ecologists. The finding suggests that an increase in hurricanes and tropical storms induced by global warming could turn forests into overall emitters of carbon dioxide, fuelling further climate change. Trees absorb CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow, then release it again when they die and decay. Ecologist Jeffrey Chambers of Tulane University in New …