Do prairies create as much oxygen as forests?

SHORT QUOTES ==== Anthony Brach Ph.D. “Does grass produce more oxygen than trees? I think yes and no. read more

The most hones answer is It depends and the explanation is the following: Oxygen is produced by a forest or prairie as a result of photosynthetic processes when plants grow and create new tissues. read more

The best we can say is that trees are constantly locking up a huge quantity of carbon (and therefore allowing an equally huge amount of free oxygen to exist in the atmosphere) but no net gain/loss ever takes place. Of course, this still doesn't excuse destroying rain forests because that definitely does release CO2 and absorb oxygen in the process. read more

If on the other case, you have an old oak or pine forest where the trees are not getting much bigger and not producing new tissue, it is possible that the prairie could eventually generate more oxygen than the forest during the same time period. read more

However, the term"oxygen production" is quite misleading, as the decomposition of organic plant and animal matter in rainforests actually consumes about the same amount of oxygen as the forests produce. For this reason, the term"oxygen turnover" is preferred by many scientists. read more

With regard to terrestrial oxygen production, NASA reports that 30% of the land is covered by trees, and as much as 45 percent of the carbon stored on land is tied up in forests. So on land, trees are definitely large contributors to oxygen production. read more