The Green 'Lungs' of Our Planet are Changing with the Climate

The "lungs" of our planet are changing. Leaves and buds are developing earlier in the spring as the climate changes and now, scientists are taking a closer look at how much change is occurring.

"There is almost no part of Earth that is not affected by these changes," said Robert Buitenwerf, one of the researchers, in a news release.

In order to better understand the changes that are occurring, the researchers looked at satellite data from 1981 to 2012, including 21 parameters for vegetation activity. The scientists determined the point in time, the duration and the intensity of growth for forests that ranged from conifer to tropical. In the end, the scientists found that on 54 percent of the land surface, at least one parameter of vegetation activity has moved away from the mean value by more than two standard deviations.

In fact, the researchers found that in several savannas in South America, southern Africa and Australia, vegetation activity has decreased during dry seasons.

"Although these savannas have similar vegetation and comparable climates, the changes in vegetation actively differ," said Buitenwerf. "That may be attributable to the differences in the functioning of the respective ecosystems."

The seasonal distribution of leaf growth is an important indicator. It shows how ecosystems respond to changes in the environment. Already, species in the northern hemisphere have been affected by these vegetation changes.

The findings reveal that vegetation changes are occurring across the globe as our climate changes. That said, the consequences of these changes are unclear. Future studies will need to be conducted to see how these widespread changes will impact other species across the world.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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