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Y2 Climate Change Science > Plant Responses to Climate Change > Flashcards

Plant Responses to Climate Change Flashcards

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1
Q

What two climate impacts due to climate change will most likely impact plants?

A
  • Global mean surface temperature projected to rise <3.1 °C by the end of the century
  • Associated with changes in precipitation
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2
Q

Rising temperature affects growth patterns in plants
How?

A
  • Stalks become longer
  • Leaves shrink
  • Grow further away from other plants (plants become unsupported and unstable/breakages + weakness)
  • Air composition may affect development of allergens and poisonous plants
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3
Q

How has climate change led to changes in the flowering periods?

A
  • Temp increases = flowering earlier in the season
  • Reduced ability to withstand the entire season
  • Decreased precipitation = flowering later in the seasons
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4
Q

What is the suggested general trend concerning plant growing season and global warming

A
  • Planet warms = longer growing season = more precipitation
  • Vegetation has longer to consume water = soil drying
  • Soil depleted of nutrients
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5
Q

Why is it hard to predict with certainity the effects of climate change on plant growth?

A
  • Some plants lacking neighbours maybe more affected
  • Local adaptations of plants species
  • Ecotype-specific responses to precipitation
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6
Q

Why can changes in global temperature affect photosynthesis

A
  • In most plants, photosynthetic capacity will be low under extreme hot and cold conditions and highests under intermediate conditions
  • Due to changes in activity of photosynthetic components or enzymee/proteins will denature
  • Sometimes if the changes are slow plants do somethimes have the ability to adapt (not-linear)
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7
Q

Heat stress can affect what two things with plants?

A
  • Carbon metabolism (photosynthesis, enzyme activity, chlorophyll content)
  • Reproduction (flowering time, pollen viability, pollen tube growth, ovule number)
  • Affect are age dependent though and can affect crop yeild!
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8
Q

Plants are more sensitive to temperature changes during which time of day?

A
  • Temperature changes at night time
  • Due to increase respiration, resulting in a loss of carbon
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9
Q

Why can the response to heat stress in plants vary?

A
  • Dependent on location
  • And different environmental signals
  • Changes in phenology (earlier budding/flowers)
  • Impact on pest, diseases and pollinators
  • Urban-rural phenology (urban heat island effect)
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10
Q

What two biological pathways does rubisco cataylse?

A
  • Calvin cycle
  • Photorespiration
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11
Q

Why is there a balance between the two biological pathways with rising CO₂ and temperature?

A

Increased CO₂ = redcution in oxygenation reaction of Rubisco
BUT
Increased Temperature = increased oxygenation
(results in loss of fixed carbon)

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12
Q

Why is the effect of precipitation increases due to anthropogenic global warming produce a non-linear response on plants?

A
  • Dependent on plant age
  • Geography and land relief
  • Soil quality and features
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13
Q

What is the tradeoff of gas exchange in plants?
How is this affected by high temp and low water supply in the soil?

A

During gas exchange at the stomata, water vapor is lost through transpiration
BUT under high temp and low water supply, the plant will close stomata to conserve water supply
This will result in less photosynthesis

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14
Q

If the water balance coefficient is low (negative), what effect does this have on photosynthesis?

A

Photosynthesis is limited by water availability

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15
Q

If the water balance coefficient is high (positive) what effect might this have on photosynthesis?

A

Photosynthesis may be limited by other climatic variables (not water)

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16
Q

High latitudes have plentiful ….. but low …… and …….. which restricts photosynthesis

A

plentiful water but low light and temperature

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17
Q

List some extreme weather events?

A
  • Heat waves/cold snaps
  • Heavy rainfall/floods/snowfall/hail storms
  • High wind/tornados
  • Drought
  • Cyclones/hurricanes
  • Storm surges
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18
Q

How have humans affected extreme events?

A

70% (of 405) extreme events were made worse through human-caused climate change

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19
Q

Why do humans exacerbated extreme weather events?

A
  • Land use change
  • Local biogeographical features (deforestation, overgrazing and continous cropping)
20
Q

What effect does the removal of vegetation have?

A
  • Removal of vegetation increases rainwater runoff and the risk of mudslides
  • Can lead to: soil erosion, land degradation, species loss, food shortage and mortality
  • Can also impact weather patterns, strengthens sea breezes and brings rain clounds inland, resulting in more rainfall and flash floods
21
Q

CO₂ concentrations do not only control how many stomat are open and closed but also….

A

How many stomta a plant may have in total
(leaf temperature can also have a similar affect)

22
Q

What two global cycles can plants affect?

A
  • The water cycle
  • global energy cycle
23
Q

What is the difference between the natural water cycle and the urban water cycle?

A
  • changing land use will also effect the water cycle
  • Where rather than water being uptake by vegetation, it instead is removed through runoff
  • (climate change predictions do not necessarily take account of land use either)
24
Q

How would a precipitation deficit affect global water cycles

A
  • Would result in critical soil moisture deficits
  • This would resultantly affect streamflow and groundwater deficits
  • Knock on affects of soil moisture/surface water and groundwater storage
  • As well as evaportranspiration
25
Q

In a future climate scenario, where rising CO₂ and soil water and runoff increase, how does this happen?

A
  • High CO₂ results in more closed plant stomata
  • Results in decreased transpiration and hence increasing soil and water runoff
26
Q

In a future scenario, where there is high CO₂ and decreasing soil water and runoff, how does this occur?

A
  • Longer and warmer growing season
  • AND CO₂ fertilisation increases ecosystem water demands, resulting in more stomata open
  • Therefore higher evapotranspiration
27
Q

The distance and the shape of tree rings can?

A

inform us about what the climate was like due the trees growing season

28
Q

Pollen can be used as a proxy for climate reconstruction
How?

A

Because the patterns of vegetation which can be reconstructed from the pollen can inform us about the state of the climate

29
Q

How can plant fossils be used to reconstruct past CO₂ levels?

A

Through measuring the number of fossilised stomata on the plants, which will reflect the levels of past CO₂

30
Q

Climate and precipitation levels will affect

A

The global distribution of biomes

31
Q

What are some patterns in terms of geography which are expected to be seen with future global climate change?

A
  • Increasing desertification
  • Large areas of uninhabitable land
  • Sea rise - loss of land including islands
32
Q

How does climate change lead to forest degradation?

A
  • The forest through degradation, will lose its ability to generate its own rainfall thereby preventing the rainforest ecosystems
  • Rise in temp corresponds with a 10-20% reduction in rainfall
  • And an increase in forest fires
33
Q

How does removing forest affect temperatures?

A
  • Removing forest results in a decrease in aldeo and hence higher temperatures?
34
Q

What is the major cause of deforestation?

A

Agriculture is the major cause of deforestation

35
Q

Who depends on rainforests?

A
  • 1.2 billion people in the world rely on tropical rainforests for survival
  • Tropical rainforests are home to nearly 30 million species of plant and animals (2019 - 1m species face extinction)
36
Q

Agriculture is responsible for x% of greenhouse gas emissions?

A

13% - due to plant being carbon stores
(whole food system 35% man-made GHG emissions)

37
Q

What agricultural activities contribute to GHG emissions?

A
  • Land use changes (clearing)
  • Farmland management activities (Plowing fields/fertilisers)
  • fossil fuels from tractors/harvesters
  • Raising livestock
38
Q

What are some ‘positives’ seen from rising temperatures on agriculture?

A
  • Increased length of growing season
  • Increased carbon dioxide = reduced photorespiration
39
Q

What are some negatives seen from rising temperatures on agriculture?

A
  • Altered pests and diseases
  • Increased extreme weather events
  • More droughts and flooding
40
Q

What affect will climate change have on pests and dieases?

A
  • Increase in temperature = migration of pest to N-latitudes
  • Rise in pest related damages
  • Insects are ectotherms - increasing temperature will mean they require more food
  • Many pests and diseases spread through wind or rain and changes in weather conditions will alter dispersion
41
Q

What is the difference between heat avoidance or tolerance

A

Avoidance: transpirational cooling, stomatal closure, leaf orientation, early maturation
Tolerance: altered transcripts, free radical scavengers, alternation in membrane lipids, heat shock proteins, osmoprotectants

42
Q

Many adaptation in plants due to climate change can occur through changes in ………….

A

Ecosystem services
These can directly impact the response to climate change

43
Q

Conversion from pasture/grassland to agroforestry can affect soil organic carbon levels how?

A

Conversion from pasture/grassland to agroforestry can increase soil organic carbon content by 10%

44
Q

How do tree canopies of agroforestry affect evapotranspiration in soils

A

Tree canopies of agroforestry systems can reduce evaporation of soil water by 41% and transpiration by 32%

45
Q

Why might you add trees to a place which suffers from frequent extreme events

A
  • Increasing tree density can help buffer against extreme events
  • Reduce surface runoff, and increased water-holding capacity reduces flood risk
  • Reduces landslide risk as land is more stabilised
  • Trees can serve as windbreaks

Y2 Climate Change Science (8 decks)

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