Climate change is the main problem we have today for the future. More and more technologies are being developed capable of seeking solutions or alternatives to this change that affects the entire planet.
We know that the role of flora and fauna is to vital importance for the future. Maintaining biodiversity and not breaking food chains and biological cycles are a good weapon in the fight against climate change. Scientists are studying new observational techniques that allow us to discover even more deeply the role of flora and fauna.
Josep Penuelas He is an ecologist specializing in global ecology, plant ecophysiology, remote sensing, and biosphere-atmosphere interactions. He researches the evolution of living beings and their role in climate change. He said the effects of climate change on flora and fauna would be most noticeable in phenology. This is, for example, when the leaves emerge on deciduous trees. With climate change, the temperature range is very different from normal. In October, it is still warm enough for the trees to understand that they don't yet need to shed their leaves.
The same thing happens with migratory birds. These birds migrate to have young and live in comfortable temperatures. However, with changes in temperature, the timing of their migration routes changes. This type of thing is easy for people to observe and is one of the things they have great importance in the functioning of the planet's ecosystems. As these phenological changes continue, they can lead to substitutions of some species with others and, therefore, changes in the distribution area.
The ecologist confirmed that in the studies carried out it can be observed that both humans and plants and animals respond to climate change changing genetically much faster than expected. However, it should be added that genetic changes in microorganisms are much faster due to the speed at which they reproduce and the number of individuals. Therefore, microorganisms adapt more easily to the effects of climate change by having many more generations in much less time.
In the studies carried out by Peñuelas to understand the causes and consequences of the effects of climate change on the planet, the communication language that flowers have. These studies can provide data that is essential for understanding the relationship between flora and its surrounding environment.
Plants exchange more gases with the atmosphere than we think
Plants communicate with each other, not by speaking or gestures, but by exchanging hundreds of gases with the atmosphere. The best known aspect of photosynthesis is that they exchange oxygen, carbon dioxide and water, But what most people don't know is that they also exchange hydrocarbons, alcohols, and a large number of gaseous compounds that perform an extraordinarily important biological function: communicating with each other. Furthermore, plants not only communicate with each other, but also with herbivores and herbivore predators, which they promote in the dispersal of their seeds by different means. It should also be added that this exchange of gases with the atmosphere causes a change in the chemistry of the atmosphere and, therefore, in air quality that we breathe. Normally, in places with a higher density of flora and vegetation, the air that is breathed is cleaner and healthier since it absorbs a large amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the burning of fossil fuels.
Climate change is accentuated by the burning of fossil fuels
Peñuelas' studies apply remote sensing techniques to work at the global, regional, and local levels. Remote sensing is necessary to monitor these changes.
"What we have verified is that we have an increasingly green planet, where there is more green biomass, and we attribute this to the fact that we are fertilizing the planet with carbon dioxide that is the food of plants."
But it is not all positive, since, according to Peñuelas, the worrying thing about this situation is that it causes saturation situations. This occurs because plants lack water due to droughts due to climate change, or they lack nutrients because they are very limited. At worst, the limiting factor for plants is a lack of light.
The consequence of the above is that the green mass stops being active and absorbs the CO2 we emit and therefore increases the greenhouse effect. To solve this, it must be taken into account that there is a planet's CO2 absorption limit and that the type of life to which we are accustomed should be changed since, if it continues like this, the planet would get too hot.
