7
0.6˚C
Change in global temperature in 1850-2010, source: Climatic Research Unit (University of East Anglia)
0.4˚C
0.2˚C
0˚C
-0.2˚C
-0.4˚C
00 20
90 19
80 19
70 19
60 19
50 19
19 40
30 19
20 19
10 19
19 00
90 18
18 80
70 18
18
60
-0.6˚C
climate zones. The area of each zone was determined on the basis of vegetation, which is a kind of a summary of the climate conditions in a given place. Although warm air contains more water, global warming does not cause rise in precipitation in all places. Observation carried out at the beginning of the 20th century indicates that precipitation increased in the eastern parts of both Americas, northern Europe and northern and central Asia. On the other hand, its decrease was noted in the Sahara, the Mediterranean Sea, in southern Africa and in southern Asia. In Poland we can observe a slight rise in precipitation, which is accompanied by the rise in temperature.
precipitation is not falling. In fact, it is even slightly rising. Therefore, we could say that the water balance in the landscape of our region is becoming more and more ‘overstretched’, as the rising temperature is leading to ‘the landscape drying out’. The functioning of the forest ecosystems is bound to become more difficult in these new climate conditions and the species of trees comprising forests are bound to change. However, we should not expect a dramatic change and forests turning into grasslands on a large scale anytime soon.
Are these changes turning the Wielkopolska region into a grassland?
Prof. Bogdan H. Chojnicki – employee of the Laboratory of Bioclimatology at the Poznań University of Life Sciences. He is the author of numerous publications and popular science articles on the subject of the influence of climate conditions on the functioning of ecosystems, water balance, thermal balance and the exchange of the greenhouse gases between the ecosystems and the atmosphere.
Steppe formation is a process in which forest flora begins to be replaced with grassland flora. It is caused mainly by a decrease in precipitation. When it comes to Wielkopolska, the amount of
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