Waikato scientist part of team awarded prestigious Human Frontier grant
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Earth to reach temperature tipping point in 20-30 years, new study finds
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We depend on plants much more than we care to admit, as they absorb a quarter or even more of our fossil fuel emissions. But, if we don’t stop or at least slow down global warming, up to half of the world’s forests and grassland could exceed their peak carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake in the next two or three decades, according to a new study a tipping point that would set our climate on a crash course for centuries to come.
Image credit: Flickr / Megan Gardner
It’s like Earth has a fever that’s affecting plants’ ability to function normally, says lead author Katharyn Duffy in a statement, describing the effect of global warming. If temperatures keep rising as they do now, many of the plants on which we rely to lessen the impact of greenhouse emissions could move from being carbon sinks to carbon sources.
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IMAGE: Graphic depicting the temperature tipping point at which Earth s plants will start decreasing the amount of human-caused carbon emissions they can absorb. view more
Credit: Victor O. Leshyk/Northern Arizona University
Earth s ability to absorb nearly a third of human-caused carbon emissions through plants could be halved within the next two decades at the current rate of warming, according to a new study in
Science Advances by researchers at Northern Arizona University, the Woodwell Climate Research Center and the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Using more than two decades of data from measurement towers in every major biome across the globe, the team identified a critical temperature tipping point beyond which plants ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon a cumulative effect referred to as the land carbon sink decreases as temperatures continue to rise.