CO2 can fool trees to prolong their growing season.Byline: ANI Washington, September 26 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have determined that the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. (CO2) in the atmosphere can be blamed for prolonging the growing season growing season, period during which plant growth takes place. In temperate climates the growing season is limited by seasonal changes in temperature and is defined as the period between the last killing frost of spring and the first killing frost of autumn, at which of trees. "Carbon dioxide fools the trees," said Wendy Jones, a research associate at Michigan Technological University Michigan Technological University (abbr. Michigan Tech or MTU) is an American public university with a range of degree offerings. Michigan Tech's main campus is in Houghton, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. who conducts research at the Aspen FACE site in northern Wisconsin. "They think they should still be growing when they ought to be going through autumnal senescence senescence /se·nes·cence/ (se-nes´ens) the process of growing old, especially the condition resulting from the transitions and accumulations of the deleterious aging processes. se·nes·cence n. - changing their colors and settling down for a long winter's nap," she explained. The phenomenon was initially documented at the Aspen FACE (Free Air Carbon dioxide Experiment) site in Rhinelander. Plots of trees are exposed to varying levels of carbon dioxide and ozone to gauge how increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will affect northern forests. Delaying the color change may actually be good news for forest products industries, since it suggests that trees will become a bit more productive due to the extra carbon being taken up in the autumn, along with the increased photosynthesis throughout the growing season. Jones cautions that other variables also affect tree growth and senescence, however. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , even with higher levels of carbon dioxide, the annual autumn spectacle could still come early. "It's been a dry year here," Jones said, which generally means that trees lose their leaves earlier. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion