Year: 2008
Crop-Damaging Insects Proliferate in Higher-CO2 World
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“The Japanese beetle, as the name suggests, is a relatively recent
arrival in Illinois soybean fields. It is causing considerable damage
now but this study suggests that its ability to inflict damage will
only increase over time.”
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Public release date: 24-Mar-2008
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Contact: Diana Yates
diya@uiuc.edu
217-333-5802
Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a higher CO2 world
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising at an alarming rate, and
new research indicates that soybean plant defenses go down as CO2
goes up. Elevated CO2 impairs a key component of the plant’s defenses
against leaf-eating insects, according to the report.
The University of Illinois study appears this week online in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels have significantly
increased carbon dioxide levels since the late 18th century, said
plant biology professor and department head Evan DeLucia, an author
of the study.
“Currently, CO2 in the atmosphere is about 380 parts per million,”
DeLucia said. “At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution it was
280 parts per million, and it had been there for at least 600,000
years – probably several million years before that.”
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“While we expected that the lake would mix less in the future,
learning that we may be only a decade or two from the complete
shutdown of deep mixing was very surprising.”
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UC Davis Home
News & Information
Warming Could Radically Change Lake Tahoe in 10 Years
March 24, 2008
A new UC Davis study predicts that climate change will irreversibly
alter water circulation in Lake Tahoe, radically changing the
conditions for plants and fish in the lake — and it could happen in
10 years.
One likely result would be a warmer lake overall, with fewer
cold-water native fish, and more invasive species, such as
large-mouth bass, bluegill and carp.
Still unclear is how the changes would affect the lake’s phenomenal
clarity and cobalt-blue color, which have helped to make the Tahoe
Basin an international vacation destination.
The new findings were announced March 18 at a Tahoe scientific
conference by three lake experts from the Tahoe Environmental
Research Center at UC Davis — Director Geoffrey Schladow, Associate
Director John Reuter and postdoctoral researcher Goloka Sahoo.
Gulf Stream Leaves Its Signature Seven Miles High
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“The band of diverging winds … follows the meandering Gulf Stream front.”
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Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080320181838.htm
Gulf Stream Leaves Its Signature Seven Miles High
Cumulonimbus storm cloud forming over the warm
Gulf Stream along the Norwegian coast. The system
is sometimes called a polar low. (Credit:
iStockphoto/Erik Kolstad)
ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2008) – The Gulf Stream’s
impact on climate is well known, keeping Iceland
and Scotland comfortable in winter compared to
the deep-freeze of Labrador at the same latitude.
That cyclones tend to spawn over the Gulf Stream
has also been known for some time. A new study
reveals that the Gulf Stream anchors a
precipitation band with upward motions and cloud
formations that can reach 7 miles high and
penetrate the upper troposphere. The discovery,
announced by a Japan-US team of scientists, shows
that the Gulf Stream has a pathway by which to
directly affect weather and climate patterns over
the whole Northern Hemisphere, and perhaps even
world wide.