Research led by the University of Washington used computer models to pinpoint varieties of corn that will be best adapted to produce high yields in future U.S. climates. The study combined weather and climate projections across the U.S. for 2050 and 2100 with a plant model that simulates corn’s growth to find the mix of traits that will produce the highest, most reliable yield under future conditions across the country.
As carbon dioxide continues to rise, multiple changes in the leaves of tropical plants may help these ecosystems perform better under climate change than previous studies had suggested.
The University of Washington’s Abigail Swann is honored by Science News on its list of 10 promising early- and mid-career scientists.
When levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rise, most plants do something unusual: They thicken their leaves. Now two University of Washington scientists have shown that this reaction by plants will actually worsen climate change by making the global “carbon sink” contributed by plants was less productive.
If an entire forest dies, new research shows, it has ricocheting effects in the atmosphere that can affect vegetation on the other side of the country.
Major forest die-offs due to drought, heat and beetle infestations or deforestation could have consequences far beyond the local landscape. Wiping out an entire forest can have significant effects on global climate patterns and alter vegetation on the other side of the world.
Many popular long-term drought estimates ignore the fact that plants will be less thirsty as carbon dioxide goes up. Plants’ lower water use could roughly halve some current estimates for the extent of future drought, especially in central Africa and temperate Asia.