{"id":4962,"date":"2020-04-28T10:20:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T09:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=4962"},"modified":"2020-04-28T10:20:03","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T09:20:03","slug":"the-first-comprehensive-global-database-for-water-use-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/the-first-comprehensive-global-database-for-water-use-efficiency\/4962\/","title":{"rendered":"The first comprehensive global database for water-use efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"
Water-use efficiency is essential to measuring how much water trees are returning to the atmosphere. This water return rises along with the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide<\/a> via tree responses.<\/p>\n According to Professor Mark Adams, lead researcher and Swinburne University<\/a> professor, tree-ring data is vital to understanding past climates and predicting further changes to the environment.<\/p>\n Adams commented: \u201cOver the past 100 years, the data shows that the rate at which water-use efficiency increased was greatest during the Great Depression and in the aftermath of World War II \u2013 periods of much slower increases in the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIn the last ten years, however, the rate of increase in water-use efficiency has shrunk to close to zero \u2013 the mature trees are no longer acclimating to atmospheric carbon dioxide the way they were 60+ years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has important implications for global hydrological models that help us understand, predict and manage water resources.\u201d<\/p>\n The continued increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide is unlikely to elicit the same response from trees they did 50 years ago. Reductions in humidity and increases in run-off are now less likely than they once were.<\/p>\n Adams believes the data may also be influenced by the current COVID-19 pandemic<\/a>. If there is a pause in carbon dioxide emissions<\/a> as a result of reduced economic activity, Adams says \u201cwe may see a rebound in the rate of change in water-use efficiency.\u201d<\/p>\nUnderstanding water-use efficiency<\/h3>\n
Predicting future tree ring data<\/h3>\n