Climate change threat to wild landscapes
W
ild, treeless landscapes are becoming more wooded as climate change leads to warming temperatures and wetter weather, claims new research by Edinburgh scientists.
According to a team of researchers from Edinburgh University environmental changes to temperature are causing trees and shrubs to spread across the tundra and the savanna, transforming these vast, open areas that contain unique biodiversity.
The researchers fear the dramatic transformations to these regions – which account for some 40 per cent of the world’s land – could alter the global carbon balance and climate system. This is because woody plants store carbon, provide fuel for fires and influence how much of the sun’s
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Environment - Climate change threat to wild landscapes
Photo by Jeffrey Kerby National Geographic Society As the tundra warms, habitats for wildlife such as reindeer could be altered and these herbivores, in turn, could influence changes in shrubs
