Trees quite literally breathe through pores called stomata on the undersides of their leaves. It’s long been known that a tree can shut its stomata all at once, like so many eyes blinking.
When a tree smells smoke (from a forest fire, say) its stomata shut and stay shut while there’s smoke in the air. This stops the tree doing all the good things it’s supposed to do for the climate: absorbing carbon dioxide and letting out oxygen. This is a new discovery – so nobody’s yet worked out the overall implications for climate models.
Whitby Writers Group 