Climate Change Effect on Plants May Cause Greater Flooding Risk

Scientists and environmentalists have long warned of the flooding dangers climate changes might pose to low-lying coastal areas. Radio talk show hosts and people on the other side of the issue have theorized that it may not be as bad as those taking up the environmentalist cause would want you to believe. Climate change occurring around the globe may pose a greater risk of coastal flooding than previously thought. Past studies of the problem did not properly take into account how carbon dioxide affects plant life.

A report published in the Journal Nature suggests that higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere do not allow plants to properly dispose of excess moisture through pores on their leaves called stomata. The problem arises because while the plants let water out through the stomata, they also let carbon dioxide in. The overall results is that droughts caused by this effect or other types of climate change may be less severe, but on the other hand, massive amounts of rain will cause more drastic consequences to the already soaked soil.

Scientists have developed new models as a result of these studies, but they studies have to be run before the findings are ready for release to the general public. Other possible effects of rapid climate change according to the Environmental Protection Agency's website are increases in hurricanes; higher minimum and maximum temperatures; decrease in the quality of water available; more soil erosion caused by a higher number of landslides, mudslides, and avalanches; greater risk to wildlife and forests due to forest fires; and property damage in coastal areas due to rising water levels.

Many countries have signed into pacts to reduce greenhouse gases. The United States did not sign the Kyoto accords because developing nations and some of the largest producers of the gases currently are exempt from the strictures put in place by the protocols of the treaty. United States law already required the lowering of green house emissions since the 1970s and the political opposition rested on the US not being able to compete on the same footing as the emerging industrialized nations.

Mankind's effect on potential climate change is not certain though. Most of the greenhouse gases still come from natural sources and the atmosphere of the early earth is far different from the gases that are present in the atmosphere today. It may not be wise however to tip the scales in a direction unfavorable to human life.

Sources:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6969122.stm

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/effects/extreme.html