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.
It would be hard to provide extra nitrogen, phosphates, and water for trees and other plants in the forest, but helping your own crop or what not would be a good idea. Poor trees!
ReplyDeleteConsidering that the corn industry is such a huge business it may be good for the companies to do something like this, but corrupt corporations like Monsanto might take advantage of altering the soil supply and such which would create a lot of problems.. It's really neat how eucalyptus can adapt so well but we shouldn't alter other things to make them adaptable. We need to reduce CO2 emissions in order to stop the forests from dying.
ReplyDeleteI agree with eden, we don't need to worry about making plants adapt to the problems we are causing. We need to worry about lowering our CO2 emissions. What we are doing to this environment is horrible, we need to make a change before its to late.
ReplyDeleteThese ecosystems are so vital to the planet, this is probably the most important blog to me. The end of forests will eventually end life as we know it.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very interesting that they are attempting to figure this out. But as with what Ede and Cody said I don't think we should be focusing on this, but more on what we are doing to make them want to do this. We NEED to lower our CO2 levels drastically!
ReplyDeleteCO2 levels are killing our ecosystem, it is causing diseases, and it is ruining our homes. This information needs to become more widely available so people can actually comprehend their impact on the world.
ReplyDeleteWith aggressive adaptable plants, what will happen to the plants that aren't good at adapting. It just makes me think about "survival of the fittest" which is something that is talked about often in our society. The same thing goes not only for plants, but also for animals and other organisms.
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