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Global Warming May Alter Plants' Biological Clocks

Posted Sep 13, 2006 at 02:08AM by Alaric S. Listed in: Plants and Agriculture, Global Warming Tags: Stanford University, ecosystem, California, carbon dioxide
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spring flowers


The environment operates on a clockwork schedule and any delay can throw the system off-balance. If a climate change affects the timing of plant growth, it could have a great impact on animals who depend on them, and ultimately on people themselves who depend on crops and livestock to live. Researchers say that this is a likely scenario.

The findings are part of the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment which was conducted by Stanford University and the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology. The study simulates how the California grassland ecosystem may respond to climate changes predicted to take place a century from now.

Under current climatic conditions, grasses flower early in the growing season and wildflowers flower later. But under conditions simulating a future climate with higher carbon dioxide, grasses and wildflowers bloomed at the same time. This could have devastating effect on animals. "In the natural world, species have evolved to be finely attuned to the seasons—timing is everything. If climate change alters the timing of plant activity, then it could have a domino effect, impacting the feeding, breeding or migration patterns of the animals that rely on particular plant species" the researchers said.

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