Plants and Climate change

PLANTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Read the following text at home. Be sure you understand the
COMPLETE TEXT; if not, ask questions to the teacher.
Then, underline or highlight the FIVE main ideas in the text (BE
SURE YOU INCLUDE THE IDEAS IN BOLD LETTERS).
INTRODUCTION
On the one hand, climate change is defined as the constant and stable
change in the different climates around the planet. It is produced by the
emission of greenhouse effect gases to the atmosphere. Climate
change reduces the amount of rains and makes the temperature of the
Earth higher (global warming).
On the other hand, plants have an enormous importance in the
maintenance of ecosystems. They are denominated producer organisms
and they are able to use solar energy for their growth by a process
called photosynthesis.
It has been proved that climate change is affecting plants in several
ways. Reduced rains and global warming make plants vital cycle to
change in order to adapt to this new climate. As a consequence, lots of
trees show leaves, flowers and fruits earlier. A clear example is the apple
tree, which has been observed to grow flowers two weeks before.
Climate change is also affecting aquatic plants around the coasts of
small islands. Climate change make coastal ecosystems to suffer a sealevel raise and an increase in the temperature of the water. These two
factors (sea level and temperature) affect all the organisms living in the
ecosystem, including aquatic plants. This is
the case of Posidonia oceanica in the
coasts of Balearic Islands.

Plants and Climate change

PLANTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Read the following text at home. Be sure you understand the
COMPLETE TEXT; if not, ask questions to the teacher.
Then, underline or highlight the FIVE main ideas in the text (BE
SURE YOU INCLUDE THE IDEAS IN BOLD LETTERS).
CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS FLOWERING IN PLANTS - Lecture 1
One of the main effects of climate change in the planet is the global
warming. This has a direct effect in the flowering events of many species
of plants.
In this case, we are going to focus on an investigation to study the
flowering of the apple trees (scientific name: Malus domestica) located
in Western Europe (Spain, France and Portugal). The scientists observed
apple trees from 1980 until 2015 and concluded that these plants were
suffering changes in the flowering events. One of these variations was
that the flower in the apple trees in Western Europe appeared earlier in
the year. Apart from that, scientists discovered that Western Europe
showed warmer temperatures in spring; the warmer the temperatures
are, the sooner flowers will appear in apple trees.
All the flowering changes are a consequence of climatic change and
have an effect on fruit (apple) growth. Even if temperatures are warmer
in spring due to climate change, the common spring frost events still
occur. If the apple flowers have already appeared when frosts take
place, flowers will be affected and fruits will not grow.
To conclude, continuous climate change is making temperatures to
increase and flowering events to occur earlier. This is making some plants
like the apple tree to be in danger in
Western

Europe,

because

of

the

complexity of trying to grow apples in

these conditions.

Plants and Climate change

PLANTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Read the following text at home. Be sure you understand the
COMPLETE TEXT; if not, ask questions to the teacher.
Then, underline or highlight the FIVE main ideas in the text (BE
SURE YOU INCLUDE THE IDEAS IN BOLD LETTERS)..
CLIMATE CHANGE AFFECTS FLOWERING IN PLANTS - Lecture 2
Climate change main effect in the planet is global warming. Global
warming is altering the life cycle of many plants and animals in Spain.
Specifically referring to plants, climate change has made flowering and
fruiting events to occur earlier.
We are going to focus on the apple tree, plant which has suffered an
advance in the appearance of leaves of 35 days; consequently, these
plants show flowers and fruits a month before they should due to climate
change. The most important changes in the life cycle of apple trees in
Spain has taken place in the last 25 years.
Moreover, a group of scientists have proven the effects of climate
change, specifically referring to the apple trees grown in Asturias (Spain).
The main objective of this study was to analyse the climate evolution in
the last 30 years in Asturias to see how it affects apple tree life cycle. One
of the conclusions was that climate change was affecting this area of
Spain because the annual temperatures increased and the amount of
rain fallen was less. As a consequence, the apple trees in Asturias show
flowering events 15 days before they should.

Plants and Climate change

PLANTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Read the following text at home. Be sure you understand the
COMPLETE TEXT; if not, ask questions to the teacher.
Then, underline or highlight the FIVE main ideas in the text (BE
SURE YOU INCLUDE THE IDEAS IN BOLD LETTERS).
CLIMATE CHANGE IN ISLANDS - Lecture 1
Small islands have limited land area and as a consequence, they are
predisposed to suffer natural catastrophes. These catastrophes, make
small islands more susceptible to the effects of climate change and sealevel rise.
Climate change is more severe in islands with lower altitudes. This makes
many animal species to migrate to islands with higher altitudes
(mountains), less affected by climate change.
But, as plants can not migrate or move, they are constantly suffering the
effects of climate change in the coasts of these small islands. This is the
case of Balearic Islands in Spain and a plant called posidonia.
Posidonia oceanica is a marine angiosperm which only appears in the
Mediterranean Sea, and especially in the Balearic Islands. Posidonia
forms a coastal ecosystem that has several functions such as: producing
oxygen or avoiding erosion in the coast. These old ecosystems grow very
slowly but at the same time, are extremely affected by changes in the
sea. Climate change and human action in the beaches in the last 20
years, might be reasons for the loss of the ecosystem formed Posidonia
around Balearic islands.

Plants and Climate change

PLANTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Read the following text at home. Be sure you understand the
COMPLETE TEXT; if not, ask questions to the teacher.
Then, underline or highlight the FIVE main ideas in the text (BE
SURE YOU INCLUDE THE IDEAS IN BOLD LETTERS).
CLIMATE CHANGE IN ISLANDS - Lecture 2
Climate change specially affects the islands. It is the case of the Balearic
islands, where in the last 10 years there has been an invasion of around
more than 40 species of exotic plants. It has not been proved that these
new species have displaced the traditional ones.
However, this is not the case of the marine plant in Balearic coasts called
Posidonia (scientific name: Posidonia oceanica). This plant oxygenates
the sea water and protects lots of fish and invertebrate animals.
Posidonia is extremely affected by climate change. The water
temperature in the Balearic coasts has increased due to climate
change, affecting posidonia. Consequently, it has been included in the
group of plants to be specially protected.
An investigation published in 2012 concluded that 90% of the total
posidonia population in the Balearic coasts is going to disappear in 40
years due to the warming of their aquatic ecosystem. The scientists
calculated that in 2050 the temperature of the sea will be 28C, making
posidonia to die.
Apart from the climate change, there are other conditions affecting
posidonia such as sea pollution or the
use sailing boats.