Grasslands acclimatise to climate change

By: Luo and Y et al

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<h1>Grasslands acclimatise to climate change</h1>
<h4>By: Luo, Y et al</h4>
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<p>Until now, climate change models have assumed that soil microbes accelerate global warming by releasing carbon dioxide (CO<SUB>2</SUB>). But new research, published in this week’s <em>Nature</em>, shows that plants and bacteria in a North American prairie actually cut their production of CO<SUB>2</SUB>as they ‘acclimatise’ to rising heat. <BR><BR>This conclusion challenges previous assumptions that rising temperatures increase the rate of bacterial respiration, which currently contributes up to 100 billion metric tonnes of carbon a year to global climate emissions. According to the researchers, the results therefore raise questions about the accuracy of existing climate models, and suggest that current predictions may over-estimate the magnitude of future global warming.<BR><BR><a href="http://www.nature.com/login/scidev_login.taf?ref=/nature/journal/v413/n6856/full/413622a0_fs.html" target="_blank" onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/tracking/external/'+this.href);" rel="noopener noreferrer">Link to full Nature article</A> <BR><BR>Reference: <em>Nature</em>, 413 622 (2001)</p>

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<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/grasslands-acclimatise-to-climate-change/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
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Until now, climate change models have assumed that soil microbes accelerate global warming by releasing carbon dioxide (CO₂). But new research, published in this week’s Nature, shows that plants and bacteria in a North American prairie actually cut their production of CO₂as they ‘acclimatise’ to rising heat.

This conclusion challenges previous assumptions that rising temperatures increase the rate of bacterial respiration, which currently contributes up to 100 billion metric tonnes of carbon a year to global climate emissions. According to the researchers, the results therefore raise questions about the accuracy of existing climate models, and suggest that current predictions may over-estimate the magnitude of future global warming.

Link to full Nature article

Reference: Nature, 413 622 (2001)