Global warming is driving leafy tropical canopies close to temperatures where they can no longer transform sunlight and CO2 into energy, threatening total collapse if the thermometer keeps climbing, according to a study Thursday.If tropical forest's average surface temperature warms 4C above current levels widely considered a worst-case scenario "we're predicting possible total leaf death," he said.
Some leaves in tropical forests from South America to South East Asia are getting so hot they may no longer be able to photosynthesize, with big potential consequences for the world’s forests, according to a new study.
Scientists have recently discovered a phenomenon occurring in tropical forests that could be of great concern if global warming continues unabated. Climate change has caused the leaves on some plants in tropical forests to stop undergoing photosynthesis the process in which plants and other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature. "When leaves reach a certain temperature, their photosynthetic machinery breaks down," Gregory Goldsmith, a professor of biology at Chapman University in Orange, California, told reporters.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged wealthy nations Wednesday to fulfill their unkept promises to fund developing countries' fight against climate change, at a summit on saving the world's tropical forests.- Eyes on UN talks -
The summit was a key test for veteran leftist Lula, who returned to office in January vowing "Brazil is back" in the fight against climate change, after four years of surging destruction in the world's biggest rainforest under far-right ex-president Jair Bo
The latest Global Forest Report from CDP, the world's largest environmental disclosure platform, shows that a record of 1,043 companies disclosed through CDP's forests questionnaire last year, representing a 300% increase over the past five years, a welcome sign that companies are beginning to recognize and disclose their impact on forests, although only 35 of these companies come from Southeast Asia. Despite an increase in companies recognizing the risks of deforestation there is a lack of acti