Effects of Increased Levels of Carbon Dioxide

EFFECTS OF INCREASED LEVELS OF CARBON DIOXIDE

by Anton Antonio

June 22, 2015

There are several effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide the most pronounced of which are chronic health diseases, global warming and climate change.  I guess these are just the common effects of carbon dioxide level increase and the visible tip of the iceberg so to speak.  There are other less noticed and known impacts though.

Here is another worrisome effect that was just discovered lately by researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Gothenburg, Sweden.  It was discovered that increased carbon dioxide levels in the air restricts plants’ ability to absorb nutrients.  This undermines the growth and reproductive capability of flora, seriously affects the balance of nature, and endangers food security.

The result of the research was published in the journal Global Change Biology.  The rapidly rising levels of carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere affect plants’ ability to absorb nitrogen, which is the nutrient that restricts crop growth in most terrestrial ecosystems.  The researchers at the University of Gothenburg revealed that the concentration of nitrogen in plants’ tissue is lower in air with high levels of carbon dioxide.

When carbon dioxide levels in the air increases, crops will have reduced nitrogen content, and therefore, reduced protein levels.  The study focused specifically on rice and wheat which are the two most important crops in the world.  The reduced quality of these two staple crops will have a profound effect on the health of people worldwide.  Continuous increase in carbon dioxide level will eventually lead to deteriorated animal species, including humans who depend on plants and animals for nutrition.

Even a basic knowledge of the effects of carbon dioxide to the environment is good enough reason to be worried.  This new discovery should make us feel even more worried since it would ultimately impact on us, humans of the present as well as the future.   Positive world action should really be taken to combat increased carbon dioxide level.

Just my little thoughts…

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REFERENCE:

Zhaozhong Feng, Tobias Rutting, Hakan Pleijel, Goran Wallin, Peter B. Reich, Claudia I. Kammann, Paul C.D. Newton, Kazuhiko Kobayashi, Yunjian Luo, Johan Udding, (2015).  “Constraints to Nitrogen Acquisition of Terrestrial Under Elevated Co2”.  Global Change Biology