speed of climate change effects trees

Eucalypts plant is high maintenance, aggressive plant. It’s also a very diverse plant. Some of them are very conservative with water and others use larger amounts of water to survive. They also respond to changes in weather that most other plants couldn’t handle. With this they grow great across different temperatures around the world.

Eucalypts in high CO2 areas responds with different patterns of water and nutrients use. They also branch differently and grow thicker leaves. They do everything from grow fast, pump lots of carbon underground and use lots of nutrients. Scientists are looking into how these plants survive and are so adaptable.

Most plants are not so good at adjusting as needed like the eucalypts. If plants are not able to handle or do not evolve to cope with the rising CO2 levels then climate change could kill off ecosystems. The reason the plants are growing faster is because they are pulling the nutrients out of the soil. Forests that are growing quicker from higher CO2 levels would have to lower their nutrients requirement levels or else the soil would run out before the trees matured. With that the forest would then stop its growth at that point of running out of nitrogen. Other plants such as food crops like rice may do great with the growth spurts from CO2. This would only happen if they were in a closed system that was given our input. We would have to provide the extra nitrogen, phosphates, and water the crops needed to survive. The CO2 levels on earth have before been a lot higher then today with that we know species can adapt. It is that they need enough time to do this and today the rate of change may be to fast.

Rising Carbon Dioxide Affects Earth's Water

The amount of water that plants give up depends on how much carbon dioxide is present in the atmosphere. This makes them have a significant role in our Earth's water cycle. All plants draw in water out of the atmosphere and soil, and they discharge water vapor and oxygen into the air through transpiration. Studies have shown that the plants pores, or stomata, are changing with rising co2 levels. The leaf pores contract and sometimes close to conserve the water. This is increasing water efficiency and reducing the rate of transpiration. When these plant release less water they are also taking less out of the environment. Since less water is being absorbed more water is going to groundwater or is running into bodies of water. When this water is making its way to the bodies of water it is collecting excess nutrients and pollutants. Then this enters the lakes, rivers, and streams and affecting the health of fish, algae, and shellfish. It is also contaminating our drinking water and beaches. The excess runoff also contributes to some flooding. It is found that for every molecule of CO2 the plants take in, they lose 44 percent less water.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090709120657.htm


1. Plants breathe in CO2 through microscopic pores on their leaves.
2. 1 molecule of CO2 inhaled = 100’s of molecules of H20 lost.
3. (Optional) Plants can tighten those pores to save water.

FSEEE

The World Resource Institute says that forest soils and vegetation store 40% of all carbon in the terrestrial biosphere. According to them deforestation generates about 20% of the human caused emissions, this is only second to fossil fuel combustion. FSEEE has a mission to protect national forests and to reform the U.S. Forest Service by advocating environmental ethics, educating citizens, and defending whistleblowers. This organization is made up of Forest service employees, activists, government resource managers, and thousands of concerned citizens. This group watches over the success and failure of the Forest Service. Their efforts include things such as publicizing disastrous timber policies . FSEEE also keeps the communication between reformers within and outside the agency. Any interested person that wants to be apart of this organization can join to help.

http://www.fseee.org/

aspen trees

Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota at Morris are studying aspen trees. Aspen trees are one of North Americas most widespread trees and these studies show that rising co2 in the last 50 years have boosted their growth rates by 50%. These findings are an important role in regulating climate and decreasing greenhouses gases. Aspen trees are called "foundation species" meaning they have a strong influence over other plants and animals around them. In North America aspen trees are very dominant. In Canada they cover 42 million acres and 6.5 million in Wisconsin and Minnesota. With them being so dominant this growing rate could have unknown ecological consequences. In the western United States do not seem to be responding quite the same. This is seen to be from the extended period of drought. They took trees ranging from 5 to 76 years old and compared their tree-ring data to previous records. With this they are able to look at the increase of growth with the change of chemistry in the air. Researchers have found that aspen grow a lot faster to elevated carbon dioxide unlike other tree species.

Fir Trees

As the co2 levels rise species of trees are affected differently. Fir trees have an advantage over many and are thriving off of the co2. The growth of these trees has not been affected negatively. As these trees are being studied they are seen to be producing twice as many seeds. These extra seeds are just as healthy as ones with normal co2 levels. Phd researcher Danielle Way from the Duke campus looked at these seeds and saw that they have just as much nutrients as normal. With these fir trees having an evolutionary advantage they are expected to take over grasses and some bush-like plants.