In devastating cases dotting the globe in recent years, climate warming has led to an increase in the number and severity of destructive wildfires.
In devastating cases dotting the globe in recent years, climate warming has led to an increase in the number and severity of destructive wildfires. Climate change projections indicate that environmental and economic damage from wildfires will spread and escalate in the years ahead.
While studies have analyzed impacts on land, new research from the University of California San Diego and other institutions indicates that aquatic ecosystems are also undergoing rapid changes as a result of wildfires.
Led by School of Biological Sciences Professor Jonathan Shurin’s laboratory, the researchers compared how aquatic systems change with the input of burnt plant matter, including effects on food webs. Their results are featured in two research studies published in the journal Global Change Biology.
Among the findings emerging from the research, scientists show that fire chemically transforms plant debris and changes the role of aquatic ecosystems as key players in the carbon cycle. The shifts point to a fundamental change in the way these aquatic systems store, process and emit carbon.
Read more at University of California - San Diego
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