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Carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere serves as fertilizer for plants and allows them to grow faster. But now these plants are taking less and less moisture from the soil. Australia is already a dehydrated country and its climate is becoming increasingly dry. The planet is warming up, and the amount of precipitation is decreasing. But now it has turned out that Australia has lost about a quarter of its river flow over the past 30 years. As carbon emissions increase faster, so does water consumption by plants. Global greening occurs for a number of reasons. It is quite obvious that plants are able to grow in places that were previously too cold, for example, in the Arctic regions, which are warming up faster than anywhere else. But in other parts of the world, the additional concentration of CO2 serves as fertilizer for plants, which allows them to grow faster, especially in arid regions. And additional growth entails an increase in water absorption. However, this conclusion has been the subject of debate. That's because the extra CO2 has two opposite effects, says Anna Ukkola of Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. Plants on the leaves have a waxy seal that stops the evaporation of excess water into the air. To access the CO2 in the air that plants need to use for photosynthesis, they need to open small pores in the leaves. But at the same time they also lose moisture. Since there is more carbon in the air than before, plants can partially close their pores and get the same amount of CO2, losing less water, Ukkola summed up.
Early models suggest that this will lead to an increase in river flow. If plants lose less water, the researchers reasoned, then there will be more of it in the streams. But later models have shown that it depends on the growth of plants: if they become more leafy, they will release more water into the air. Donohue and his colleagues were the first to show that in 2013, elevated levels of carbon dioxide gave impetus to an increase in vegetation cover around the world. They examined satellite images, while excluding the role of other factors, such as changes in precipitation and changes in land use. Using a similar technique, Ukkola and his colleagues repeated this analysis for Australia, and then compared 190 river basins with changes in the channel flow of that time. After taking into account other factors, such as changes in precipitation, they found that a significant drop in river flow was associated with landscaping. In areas that were greener, river runoff decreased significantly. In general, greening due to induced CO2 is responsible for reducing river runoff in the range of 24 to 28 percent. This is a rather alarming figure for areas that are already experiencing water shortages around Australia, Ukkola concludes.
The changes were not seen in the driest or wetlands parts of the country. Ukkola believes it is likely that in the wettest parts of the plant do not get the effect of additional CO2 levels, as they are not limited when water evaporates through the leaves. And in arid areas with significant dry periods, CO2 is unlikely to have a noticeable effect. Ukkola says the results can probably be extrapolated to areas with a similar climate in Australia, such as the Mediterranean Sea. It's not clear what will happen in the future when plants start getting more saturated CO2 at some point. However, a decrease in precipitation is predicted in Australia in any case, she summed up. Exclusive bonus for players in India – enter the 1xBet promo code today and get welcome bonuses for sports and casinos and details about other promotions for existing players. 1xBet is a legal and licensed online bookmaker that allows Indian players to create their accounts on the website and start their betting adventure with thrilling promotions and features to benefit from. This section of our 1xBet review will introduce you to other available welcome promotions which give you the chance to have more fun while betting on your favourite sports events.