• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
BREAKING: Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update September 26, 2023
Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab September 25, 2023
Community-Driven Solutions Can Take Back Ontario’s Electricity Future: Torrie September 25, 2023
‘Apex Oil and Gas Lobby’ Undercuts Canadian Sovereignty, Laxer Tells Foreign Influence Probe September 25, 2023
Momentum Builds Toward COP 28 as Countries Back Fossil Fuel Phaseout September 25, 2023
Next
Prev

Plenty Of Surprises As World Warms

June 3, 2013
Reading time: 2 minutes
Primary Author: Tim Radford

 

 For immediate release Estimating how alterations in rainfall patterns will affect tree growth in different regions is a puzzling business LONDON, 4 June – Nobody knows for certain what climate change will bring but on the basis of the latest research by plant ecologists, one thing has been established: there will be surprises. Milena Holmgren of Wageningen University in the Netherlands and colleagues report in Nature Climate Change that they used satellite data to look at the patterns of change in tree cover in three tropical belts: Africa, Australia and South America. The chief conclusion is that changes in rainfall patterns from year to year were linked to lower tree cover in the rainforests of all three continents. In the dry tropics, however, the picture changed in puzzling ways. In South America, for instance, the higher overall variation in rainfall between years turned out to be a good thing, encouraging tree growth in the semi-arid regions. That confirmed other studies that had suggested that those unexpected episodes of heavy rainfall in normally arid areas provided a happy window of opportunity for trees to get a better hold. But in Australia, although extremes of rainfall in the desert and dry plains certainly had some effect on tree growth and regeneration, this was usually overwhelmed by the negative effects of extremely dry years. Meanwhile in the baking, dusty regions of tropical Africa, the procession of up-and-down rainfall levels seemed to make no great difference. “During extremely rainy years, there is massive tree germination and if these young seedlings grow fast enough to escape from herbivores, then woodlands can expand,” says Dr Holmgren. “With our analysis of satellite data, we can assess how general this response it. We found the positive effects of extremely rainy years is localised, and can be offset by certain conditions, as in Australia, by negative effects of extremely dry years.” Ecosystem changes This is not climate science as such, but rather another exploration of how the world works – and what, if anything, climate change will do for tropical tree cover. The scientists say their work is relevant to global climate change as warming could increase the frequency of extreme events: so as floods and droughts and heat waves blight the tropics, ecosystems could change in ways that might present problems for humanity – or a bonus. For instance, if trees do take hold in semi-arid grasslands, is that going to be a good thing for grazing livestock or wild herbivores? On the other hand, in those places where the woodland has perished – leaving eroded, dusty plains and valleys – sudden colossal downpours might just give trees a chance to regenerate, put down roots, provide some hospitality for the local biodiversity and perhaps even sequester a bit more carbon and lock it away in an increasingly fertile soil. But these remain possibilities, not predictions. “The overall effects of climate variability are puzzling,” says Dr Holmgren. – Climate News Network

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
Subscribe



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

moerschy / Pixabay
Biodiversity & Habitat

Planetary Weight Study Shows Humans Taking Most of Earth’s Resources

March 19, 2023
53
U.S. Geological Survey/wikimedia commons
Biodiversity & Habitat

Climate Change Amplifies Risk of ‘Insect Apocalypse’

December 1, 2022
67
Alaa Abd El-Fatah/wikimedia commons
COP Conferences

Rights Abuses, Intrusive Conference App Put Egypt Under Spotlight as COP 27 Host

November 14, 2022
34

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Cullen328/wikimedia commons

Manufactured Housing Could Dent the Affordable Housing Crunch with Energy-Efficient Designs

September 20, 2023
276
Jon Sullivan/flickr

Thorold Gas Peaker Plant Won’t Be Built After Unanimous City Council Vote

September 21, 2023
658
UN Climate Change/flickr

Don’t Attend COP 28 Unless You’re There to Help, Figueres Tells Oil and Gas

September 24, 2023
461
/Piqusels

‘Beginning of the End’ for Oil and Gas as IEA Predicts Pre-2030 Peak

September 19, 2023
503
Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
121
Mark Dixon/wikimedia commons

Hundreds of Thousands March in Global Climate Strike

September 19, 2023
128

Recent Posts

Jason Blackeye/Unsplash

BREAKING: Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update

September 26, 2023
1
Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 25, 2023
6
UNDP/flickr

Community-Driven Solutions Can Take Back Ontario’s Electricity Future: Torrie

September 26, 2023
8
Wilson Hui/flickr

‘Apex Oil and Gas Lobby’ Undercuts Canadian Sovereignty, Laxer Tells Foreign Influence Probe

September 26, 2023
10
United Nations/Twitter

Momentum Builds Toward COP 28 as Countries Back Fossil Fuel Phaseout

September 26, 2023
11
UniEnergy Technologies/wikimedia commons

Multi-Day Storage Can Deliver Cheaper Grid Reliability, Battery Maker Says

September 25, 2023
9
Next Post

Plea For GM As Climate Warms

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}