Global Warming Increases Plant Frost Damage

Scientists from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Missouri and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have shown that rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may result to increased plant frost damage. A sudden freeze that occurred in April 2007 resulted to widespread damage to plants in the Eastern United States. Two weeks of unusual warmth preceded the freeze. Researchers used the opportunity to prove their hypotheses that exposure to warm temperatures prior to frost induces premature plant development resulting in exposure of vulnerable plant tissues and organs to extremely low temperatures.

Lianhong Gu and his colleagues proposed that the 2007 spring breeze should be viewed as a realistic climate change scenario and not just an isolated event. According to them, there is a need to consider large fluctuations in the spring temperatures as a real threat to terrestrial ecosystem structure in a warming climate.

The paper is available at http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Gu.pdf