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Plants will be hit as a warming world turns drier
(Climate News Network, 26 Mar 2021) If a warming world becomes a drier one, how will the green things respond? Not well, according to a new prediction.
The air of planet Earth has been gradually drying this century. If this goes on, that could be bad news for humankind. In a warming world crop harvests will dwindle, even in well-watered farmlands, and trees could shrink in height.
The prospect of stunted forests and shortages of food in a world hit by global heating, climate change and rapid population growth is ominous. But if US and Canadian scientists are right, it may be a simple consequence of plant response to a rarely-discussed worldwide phenomenon known as vapour pressure deficit, which has been rising for the past 20 years as the world has warmed.
The argument isn’t a simple one. Higher global temperatures mean more evaporation. Higher atmospheric temperatures also mean that the capacity of the atmosphere to hold moisture also rises − the rule of thumb is 7% more vapour per degree Celsius rise. So a warmer world should be a wetter world.
But climate science also predicts that although those regions already rainy will get rainier, the drylands and arid zones will get even dryer as the thermometer soars.
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Climate News Network, 26 Mar 2021: Plants will be hit as a warming world turns drier
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