Usurbil, Basque Country
October 2, 2007
Source:
Elhuyar Fundazioa
The University of Navarra
has installed a thermal gradient greenhouse in order to study
the impact of climate change on plants. This is a pioneering
methodology for studying the simultaneous effect of increased
CO2 and ambient temperature. The research project, which will be
undertaken by researchers from the area of Plant Biology of the
University, could become a reference for later scientific
studies in this area.
These studies, financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and
Science, the University Foundation of Navarra and the Foundation
Caja Navarra, have already obtained their first results. “We
have discovered that plants respond to enrichment of atmospheric
CO2 with increased growth. This will imply an increase in the
productivity of food crops and of plant growth in general,”
explained Prof. Juan José Irigoyen, leader of the research
project.
Nevertheless, after prolonged growth in an environment with
increased CO2, plants become acclimatized and throttle back
their growth. This could be due to the fact that in the new
conditions produced by climate change, limiting factors appear
which reduce plant growth, such as the availability of nutrients
in the soil. In addition, the changes in other parameters
associated with an increase in CO2 and with climate change in
general, such as an increase in temperature and a reduction in
rainfall, can reduce or even eliminate these beneficial effects.
Studies in forage crops, rapeseed and grapevines
The research team is made up of the professors Juan José
Irigoyen and Manuel Sánchez-Díaz, of the University of Navarra;
Fermín Morales, of the Spanish High Council of Scientific
Research; the doctoral student Álvaro Sanz and the research
technicians Amadeo Urdiáin and Mónica Oyarzun. Up to now, the
team has focused its studies on forage crops such as alfalfa.
These species can grow in nitrogen-poor soils; this element,
when added to the soil as a fertilizer, contributes to the
greenhouse effect and to pollution. However, the team is
currently looking to expand its research area to other crops,
such as rapeseed and grapevines.
In the case of climate change, induced in large part by the
increase in atmospheric CO2, the team has undertaken studies in
controlled conditions, with cameras to record growth, and
currently with thermal gradient greenhouses, which permit
undertaking studies on specific types of climate change. These
are facilities that are similar to greenhouses, but which permit
us to simulate an environment with increased CO2 and a
simultaneous increase in temperature. According to this
professor, “the conclusions will contribute to understand the
response of plants to this kind of climate change, as well as to
propose cultivation strategies for these plants which will help
farmers to adjust to the new climate conditions. |
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