Tucked away Please click a picture to enhance it.
The authorsTwo New Zealand professors from Waikato University (Vic Archer and Louis Schipper) and three American scientists from Northern Arizona University, (Katharyn A. Duffy [lead author]), Christopher, R. Schwalm, and L. Liang conducted this study, published just a week or two ago by Science Advances.² The studyBy examination of 20 years worth of carbon flux data from measurement towers in major ecosystems all over the world, this study aimed to find out how climate change, particularly temperature rise, affected effective photosynthesis. Results showed that it peaked at about 18°C then began to decline. In the original reportWhen confronted with a media story on something like a science report, I like to have a look at the original. So I went to the source listed in my references below. Because I'm not a scientist I could not follow the research detail but I found these two separate understandable paragraphs in the section headed 'Discussion.' I thought you might like to read them too. 'Our findings demonstrate temperature limits for global photosynthesis rates and the terrestrial land sink as a whole. 'The temperature tipping point of the terrestrial biosphere lies not at the end of the century or beyond, but within the next 20 to 30 years (Figs. 2 and 3, A to D). Given the temperature limits of land carbon uptake presented here, without mitigating warming, we will cross the temperature threshold of the most productive biomes³ by midcentury, after which the land sink will degrade to only ~50% of current capacity if adaptation does not occur.'² Lead researcher's comments
Two consequencesI was intrigued, impressed and quite moved to read in the newspaper report that Professors Archer and Schipper found the results of the study so upsetting that they both 'subsequently moved to electric transport.'¹ Another holiday read
Realise the urgencyThese two holiday reads have helped me further understand that the huge forests are carbon traps and I am alarmed that they may be under threat in the not very distant future. We want plants 'to function normally.'¹ The next 20 to 30 years²? I'm unlikely to be alive even at the beginning of that period but I certainly hope my children and grandchildren and all their contemporaries will be. So I think all of us alive now need to think about what we are facing with the same seriousness, urgency and even vehemence with which we are facing the current pandemic. That means standing behind government measures (in whatever country) to limit world temperature rise. It means talking, conversing, petitioning – and cultivating a social and political culture which recognises the seriousness of what lies ahead. □ John McInnes Friday 29 January 2021 References: ¹ Eloise Gibson: Forests close in on tipping point – The Dominion Post Friday 15 January 2021 ² How close are we to the temperature tipping point of the terrestrial biosphere?– Katharyn A. Duffy et al Science Advances Volume 7 No 3 13 January 2021 ³ Biome – a large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, e.g. forest or tundra Book publication details: The Hidden Life of Trees : this edition: Black Inc., Carton VIC, Australia – www.blackincbooks.com Picture credit: bach – Robyn McInnes ##########
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