{"id":25408,"date":"2022-09-13T13:30:28","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T12:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=25408"},"modified":"2022-09-13T13:52:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T12:52:05","slug":"climate-change-could-have-devastating-effects-on-forests-carbon-uptake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/climate-change-could-have-devastating-effects-on-forests-carbon-uptake\/25408\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate change could have devastating effects on forests\u2019 carbon uptake"},"content":{"rendered":"
The new findings contrast a previous theory that forest leaves can keep their temperature within an optimal range for photosynthesis, which is the process where green plants produce their food from sunlight and carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n
Existing research suggests that many of the world\u2019s forests are approaching their thermal limit for carbon uptake.<\/p>\n
Building on this, the new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/em> used thermal imaging to study the temperature of forest leaves at sites across North and Central America, including the Panamanian Rainforest and the high elevation tree line in Colorado.<\/p>\n Thermal cameras were mounted on towers equipped with technology to measure carbon, water and energy fluxes between forests and the atmosphere.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing high-frequency, continuous thermal imaging to monitor forest canopies really changes what we can learn about how forests are dealing with the stress of rising temperatures,\u201d said Andrew Richardson, a professor at Northern Arizona University and a co-author of the study.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore thermal cameras, if you wanted to measure canopy temperature, you had to stick thermocouples to leaves with Band-Aids and wait until the wind pulled them off. But these cameras let us measure change 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across many seasons and years.\u201d<\/p>\n The results of these tests found that forest leaves do not consistently cool below daytime air temperatures or remain within a narrow temperature range. This contradicts the leaf homeothermy theory, which was limited in its research.<\/p>\n