Environmental Plant Studies

Greenhouse theory smashed by biggest stone

sayaiwan — Tue, 02 May 2006 00:22:37 +0000

Of course, this last blog should be something totally opposite from what I have been writing: Human activities do not relate with increasing global temperature. Vladimir Shaidurov of the Russian Academy of Science claimed that the increase of CO2 within the last century came from the Tungus Meteorite (also known as Tunguska Event). In 1908, this meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere and blew dust in the air, killing 600 million trees within 2000 km² of Siberia. The risen dust trapped the water vapor, because (according to Shaidurov and Andrew E. Dessler of the Texas A & M University) water vapor is the “most powerful greenhouse gas”. Since humans do not have direct impact on water vapor in the atmosphere, these two scientists claim that human activities is not the reason for global warming.

http://www.physorg.com/news11710.html

Greenhouse gases showed steady rise in 2005

sayaiwan — Tue, 02 May 2006 00:22:05 +0000

As every other article talks about increase in global warming, so does this one. The article states that the heat trapping gases are still increasing, but the increase rate has slowed down from 2.8% in the 80s, to 1.25% in 2005. This was caused by the drop in methane and chlorofluorocarbons from the previous years, showing that some people are actually beginning to take part in controlling the output of CO2. This is a start, but nonetheless, there is a constant increase in CO2 production.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-05-01T220757Z_01_N01174659_RTRUKOC_0_US-ENVIRONMENT-GREENHOUSE.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13

Ophrys scolopax-Woodcock Orchid (part III)

sayaiwan — Mon, 01 May 2006 21:36:43 +0000

The Woodcock orchids grow in open field communities among herbaceous plants with short sclerophyllous shrubs (shrubs that are able to withstand hot, dry summers and mild, humid winters, such as southern Italy). Their biomes are mostly grasslands.

Ancestral species of orchids undergo C3 pathway, but many evolved into CAM pathway as well. Because Woodcock Orchids grow in water limited region, I assume that they too undergo CAM.
The Woodcock Orchid also lack large leaves which signify C3 plants by absorbing all the light it can get. Thus, this plant is most CAM pathway plant.

References:

Peugeot Plants 2 Million Trees to Help Reduce Global Warming

sayaiwan — Mon, 01 May 2006 04:14:27 +0000

Peugeot is planting trees in Mato Grosso, Brazil to balance out automobile’s CO2 output with the trees’ carbon sink. The project is hoped to eventually grow large enough so the forest will hold more CO2 than the humans produce. To do this, Peugeot is manufacturing vehicles that produce less CO2, and by calculating how much each car will produce CO2, the company is planting as much trees to balance it out. Peugeot is also forced to contribute to the Kyoto Protocol, which pushed for more effort in the fight with human cause of the greenhouse effect.

http://autoweb.drive.com.au/cms/A_106516/newsarticle.html

Nature Can Help Reduce Carbon Dioxide But Only When Managed, Study Says

sayaiwan — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 17:40:54 +0000

Nitrogen fixation: Research from University of California, Davis, Northern Arizona University and the Netherlands show that the soil doesn’t hold as much carbon as many people believed (and hoped) it would. From their research, they concluded that the amount of carbon dioxide the soil (or plant, since it is ultimately used by the plants) is limited to the amount of nitrogen is present. It used to be thought that more carbon available, more nitrogen fixation will occur. However, because this is not the case, the hope for storing the extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has lessened.

http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=7710

Solutions sought for carbon sequestration, hydrogen production

sayaiwan — Sat, 29 Apr 2006 17:31:05 +0000

This article was a bit hard for non-microcellular people like me to understand. Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis recently are investigating the gene sequence of two cyanobacteria to see environmental factors lead to changes in their oxygen production. They have found protein sequences for usage of iron, nitrate and bicarbonate. This discovery will help understand how cyanobacteria’ s role in “harvesting solar energy, planetary carbon sequestration, metal acquisition and hydrogen production in marine and freshwater ecosystems” will change the global environment.

http://record.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/6773.html

Climate change: 20th century the wettest in Pakistan for 1,000 years

sayaiwan — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 21:56:27 +0000

Here’s an article on climate change article: Annual rings on a 1000 year-old juniper tree in Pakistan shows the increasing trend in precipitation over the last 150 years. It was found that there were remarkably wet years before the 19^th century, however, the isotope evaluation depicted large amounts of precipitation much frequent in these years. This may be the result of global warming, but it is not fully believed so. The scientists hypothesize that the frequent change in the precipitation pattern may be due to the change in the tropical weather, which is caused by the forest itself (the exact same thing we learned on Wednesday about effects by deforestation).

http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_34976.shtml

McDonald’s will investigate charges of deforestation in the Amazon

sayaiwan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:30:08 +0000

Here’s an article for today’s Deforestation Issue: McDonald’s, along with other restaurants in
Europe, are held charged for indirect deforestation of the Amazon by buying chicken that are fed by soy products. In the article, it says that “1.2 thousand products [are soy products] and are the world's most heavily consumed grain.” McDonald’s seems to be open about this, and is willing to converse with the NGO staffs on the issue.

http://internacional.radiobras.gov.br/ingles/materia_i_2004.php?materia=261831&q=1&editoria=

Cheatgrass offers abundant fuel for fires

sayaiwan — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 21:02:39 +0000

Here’s an article on both invasive plant and fire: Cheatgrass, an invasive species to western US, are raising the risk of large fires. These grass burn much more readily than the native grasses in places such as Washington State. Because the rainy season has given them abundant growth, the firemen are calling the fields full of these grass, “mat of fuel”. The state is planning to kill the Cheatgrass seeds and plant native grasses, which are more fire resistant.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/5689272p-5099366c.html

China Labors to Stop Spread of Deserts

sayaiwan — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:35:40 +0000

Since we were talking about biomes today, I found an article on desert biome. This time of the year,China’s desert sand is picked up by wind and carried all over the country and even to South Korea and Japan (you can actually see the dust like fog). The Chinese government is planting acres of vegetation to keep the desert from spreading. This tactic worked, but it is said to take much longer to take real effects as the government is hoping to get.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2630&ncid=2630&e=2&u=/ap/20060420/ap_on_re_as/china_sandstorms_1