BALBOA, Panama, Nov. 11 (UPI) — An abrupt global warming episode 56 million years ago led to an explosion of plant diversity in northern South America, Panamanian researchers say.
A 9-degree Fahrenheit spike in temperatures during 10,000 years — a blink of an eye on a geological scale — had researchers expecting to find evidence of a mass die-off of many tropical plant species, ScienceNews.org reported.
“We were expecting to find rapid extinction, a total change in the forest,” says study leader Carlos Jaramillo, a biologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Balboa, Panama. “What we found was just the opposite — a very fast addition of many new species, and a huge spike in the diversity of tropical plants.”
The study has resonance for today in raising new questions about how tropical rain forests might respond to global warming as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise because of fossil fuel burning and other industrial activities, researchers say.
Now gardeners know why they grow plants in greenhouses. Climate science is breaking some new ground here.
Now, who would have guessed that? Heat + CO2 helps plants.
Neil:
Anyone who has landscaped in different regions of the US or as a matter of fact any where in the world.
Plant hardiness zones are defined by extent of cold and and moisture. In 110 degree Fahrenheit temperatures I could grow anything with proper water and nutrients. The limiting factor was the minimum temperature.
Climatologists really need to look at reality. This is another example of money thrown away.
I know people that did not finish school that know what these researchers are just finding out!
Here we go again, with more heretical pariahs to add to the roll of AGW deniers. They have to be. What they’ve basically said is that global warming is good and will benefit the rainforests. Something else to give Joe Romm fits …
Carlos Jaramillo,1,* Diana Ochoa,1,2 Lineth Contreras,3,1,4 Mark Pagani,5 Humberto Carvajal-Ortiz,6,1 Lisa M. Pratt,6 Srinath Krishnan,5 Agustin Cardona,1 Millerlandy Romero,1 Luis Quiroz,1,7 Guillermo Rodriguez,3,8 Milton J. Rueda,9,3 Felipe de la Parra,3 Sara Morón,1,10 Walton Green,1 German Bayona,11,1 Camilo Montes,1,11 Oscar Quintero,12 Rafael Ramirez,13 Germán Mora,14 Stefan Schouten,15 Hermann Bermudez,16 Rosa Navarrete,17 Francisco Parra,18 Mauricio Alvarán,16 Jose Osorno,19 James L. Crowley,20 Victor Valencia,21 Jeff Vervoort22
1 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Box 0843-03092, Balboa, Ancon Republic of Panama.
2 Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN 37614–14850, USA.
3 Colombian Petroleum Institute, Km 7 Via Piedecuesta, Bucaramanga, Colombia.
4 Institute of Geosciences, Goethe University Frankfurt, Altenhöferallee 1, D-60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
5 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
6 Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
7 Department of Geology, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon SK, Canada.
8 Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO 65409–0140, USA.
9 Paleoflora Limitada, Calle 9 No. 9-09, Zapatoca, Colombia.
10 Department of Geology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455–0231, USA.
11 Corporación Geológica Ares, Calle 57 N.24-11 ofic. 202, Bogotá, Colombia.
12 Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) Exploración, Nucleoteca La Concepción, Maracaibo, Venezuela.
13 PDVSA Exploración, Edificio Guaraguao Puerto de la Cruz, Venezuela.
14 Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Baltimore, MD 21204, USA.
15 Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry, Post Office Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, Netherlands.
16 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Caldas, Manizales, Colombia.
17 Paleosedes, Tv 27 No. 57-49 Bogota, Colombia.
18 Université Paul Sabatier, CU Ponsan Bellevue, Rue Maurice Becanne, 31078 Tolulouse CX 04, France.
19 Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos, Bogotá, Colombia.
20 Department of Geosciences, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725–1535, USA.
21 Valencia Geoservices, Tucson, AZ 85712, USA.
22 School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164–2812, USA
ever heard of the Jurassic? Triassic?
yes. 9° in 10,000 years is the blink of an eye.
What ACC predicts is one third of that in ONE HUNDREDTH the time period. WHAT IS 35 times faster than the blink of an eye?
Of course what possible difference could it have to plant life that the temp changed 1°/1100 years as opposed to 1°/30 years.
And as Mike so eloquently states, these simpletons think only temperature is important. All these degrees and nobody ever taught them that moisture and nutrients matter in plant growth. What idiots!
I think we should send Mike and Steve on EVERY climate based research expedition so that they can explain to these “scientists” the real science that obviously none of them have gotten in graduate school or in professional journals. My God how can every climate scientist get everything so wrong every time!