Sunday, June 21, 2015

Rise in CO2 Could Restrict Growing Days for Crops

While plants in temperate zones may benefit from higher temperatures, global warming’s impact in the tropics threatens catastrophe for food security.

Food stalls at a market in Kamuli, eastern Uganda. (Image Credit: ErinaMukuta via Wikimedia Commons) Click to Enlarge.
The positive consequences of climate change may not be so positive.  Although plants in the colder regions are expected to thrive as average global temperatures rise, even this benefit could be limited.

Some tropical regions could lose up to 200 growing days a year, and more than two billion rural people could see their hopes wither on the vine or in the field. Even in  temperate zones, there will be limits to extra growth.

Plants quicken, blossom and ripen as a response to moisture, warmth and the length of daylight.  Global warming will clearly change the temperatures and influence the patterns of precipitation, but it won’t make any difference to the available hours of sunlight at any point on the globe.

Read more at Rise in CO2 Could Restrict Growing Days for Crops

No comments:

Post a Comment