An international team of researchers co-led by Josep Peñuelas (CSIC and CREAF) has developed a new method for monitoring changes in the photosynthetic activity of perennial conifers throughout the year. This new technique, based on the analysis of remote sensing images captured by satellites, will improve global models of atmospheric carbon capture and permit more precise predictions about climate change.
The journal Nature has today published a study which had the participation of CSIC scientists at CREAF, Marc Estiarte and Josep Peñuelas, which demonstrates the relationship between the release of carbon from soils and the acceleration of climate change.
CSIC and CREAF researcher Josep Peñuelas has received an honorary doctorate degree from the Estonian University of Life Sciences for his studies on global change. The university council considers his studies as excellent, and also values his international collaboration with Estonian researchers. The presentation of the award took place on September 23rd in the city of Tartu.
In the prizes to the trajectory of a scientist, people say , the hardest is to begin, because after the first award, the winner can be pretty sure that others will come. Maybe, but there are different categories of prizes. Josep Peñuelas is starting to get the big ones, those that he deserves by his contributions to ecology, his dedication and his ability to empathize in order to establish fruitful relationships with scientists all around the world.
The forest treeline shifts upward slower than temperature increase, and it can be hindered by densification of shrubs. A number of factors influence upward forest expansion, including the particular plant species growing near trees, climate change, human activity, and terrain morphology. The Tibetan Plateau, practically devoid of human pressures, offers a pristine area for study
Since 1982, Earth has become greener in an area covering 36 million km2, close to two times the size of the United States. Above all, this seems to be the result of a fertilizing effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) on plants. The study was carried out with satellite images which can capture this increase in terrestrial leaf area.
The worst scenario occurs when NAO and EA are in opposite phases. This ocurred in the first few years of the previous decade and during this period, the CO2 uptake was below average. Recently, NAO and EA were in the same phase and ecosystems have been able to remove more carbon from the atmosphere.
Understanding ecosystem dynamics can lead to greater benefits in forest management, species conservation, and carbon sequestration. A new study puts forward results which can be generalized for the whole globe and to 53,000 tree species thanks to the large quantity of data gathered and analyzed.
CREAF has participated in an international study which has estimated the total biomass production of all planetary ecosystems. These data can be used to improve accounting of the global supply of natural resources and plan strategies for boosting the sequestration of atmospheric carbon.
Leaf unfolding occurred on average about 4 days earlier every one degree increase in spring temperature between 1980 and 1994, whereas this value dropped to -2.3 days C-1 between 1999 and 2013, a decrease of over 40%. According to this study recently published in the jorunal Nature with the participaction of Josep Peñuelas, researcher from CSIC at CREAF, warmer winters and photoperiod are forcing plants to control their phenology calendars.
