Climate change research sheds new light on nature’s response
Posted on 24 November 2008
Understanding the way different parts of the environment will react is one of the key challenges to emerge from the growing evidence that the world is warming as a result of human activity.
It is known that plants adjust to the temperatures in which they have grown. In particular, plants change their respiration rates in a process known as thermal acclimation.
Respiration produces carbon dioxide, a main cause of global warming, and scientists hoped that as plants adjust to rising temperature they would release less of the gas into the atmosphere.
However, the new research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, shows that although thermal acclimation will reduce respiration in some parts of the world – such as the Amazonian rainforests – most other regions will respire more. The overall effect in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is therefore likely to be negligible.
Dr Jon Pitchford, of the University’s Departments of Biology and Mathematics and one of the authors of the research, said: "These findings strengthen the case of those warning about the dangers posed by climate change.
"They challenge the idea that the planet’s plant life will adjust to increased temperatures in a uniform fashion that will, in turn, help ameliorate global warming.
"Further research is now needed to establish whether photosynthesis, the other key process in plants where carbon dioxide is absorbed and oxygen is released, will follow the same pattern."
Nineteen plant species were grown at a range of temperatures and their responses measured. These data were then scaled up to ecosystem level using mathematical models, and fed into computer simulations that map vegetation and climate change.
The experiments at York were led by Dr Owen Atkin working with the York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis, which brings together scientists from different disciplines.
The research also involved collaboration with experts in global simulation at the University of Sheffield, as part of a programme on quantifying Earth system processes and climate feedbacks funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, and Umeå University, Sweden.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The research, Using temperature-dependent changes in leaf scaling relationships to quantitatively account for thermal acclimation of respiration in a coupled global climate−vegetation model, is published in volume 14, issue 11 (November 2008) of Global Change Biology and online at www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/117991450/home.
- Dr Jon Pitchford can be contacted at the University of York. Tel: 01904 328559. Email: jwp5@york.ac.uk
- York Centre of Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA) houses a number of researchers and their groups, among them Dr Leo Caves (Biology), Dr James Cussens (Computer Science), Dr Jon Pitchford (Biology/Mathematics), Dr Reidun Twarock (Biology/Mathematics) and Dr Julie Wilson (Chemistry/Mathematics), as well as two recently appointed RCUK fellows, Dr Dan Franks (Biology/Computer Science) and Dr Andrew (Jamie) Wood (Biology/Mathematics). These scientists form part of the larger cross-campus interdisciplinary community of YCCSA.
- Professor Owen Atkin, the lead and corresponding author, can be contacted at the Australian National University, Canberra. Tel: +61 (2) 6125 5046. Fax: +61 (2) 6125 5095. Email: Owen.Atkin@anu.edu.au.
- Research at the University of Sheffield was conducted in collaboration with Professor Ian Woodward and Dr Rosie Fisher as part of the NERC-funded QUEST programme (http://quest.bris.ac.uk/).