People may need to start being more careful when on a hiking trip or jogging through the woods. Rapidly rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are driving poison ivy and patches of dandelion to grow taller, more resilient, and lusher according to two new studies. A study published by the Weed Science journal showed that carbon dioxide directly feed poison ivy. Poison ivy growing in lab chambers set to present carbon dioxide conditions swelled to twice the size of samples grown under conditions from the 1950s. Unrelated to the poison ivy experiment, dandelions in carbon dioxide conditions elevated to projected 2100 levels produced 32% more seed-carrying fruit and longer white pappus hairs. “These papers ... suggest many weedy species are going to respond strongly to elevated carbon dioxide," said Jeff Dukes, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Carbon dioxide levels have been on the rise since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution more than 200 years ago. Various studies of the effects of carbon dioxide on certain weeds have been conducted. At Duke University, a study of poison ivy found that the plants grew faster and larger and produced skin (irritant urushiol) when an additional 200 parts per million of carbon dioxide was piped into a forest near Duke’s campus. Plants are extremely sensitive to carbon dioxide because they use it for food, as they convert it into carbs, lipids, and other compounds during photosynthesis. Lewis Ziska, a U.S. Department of Agriculture weed ecologist led a similar and more refined experiment to the Duke experiment. Putting the ivy in individual chambers with different amounts of carbon dioxide penetrating the weeds, he found similar results to all other experiments. The ivy increased in mass with more carbon dioxide. As carbon dioxide concentrations increase in the atmosphere, it seems that poison ivy will increase in size and as well in numbers. As we continue to put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and heat up the world, we might want to remember just want may happen in affect. I guess for the time being it is just important to watch out where you step.
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/jul/18/science/sci-poisonivy18
No comments:
Post a Comment