Increased CO2 levels = Good bye equatorial rain forests?

[Odin2005]

I was thinking about this after I noticed something odd about Jurassic climate, the equatorial areas were arid and semi-arid! Then the reason hit me. Rainforests make thier own rain as a result of water evaporating from leaves through small pores called stomata. The evaporation is the price the plant pays for getting atmospheric CO2 for photosynthesis. Increased CO2 levels would therefore cause less water to evaporate from plants because the plants wouldn't have to leave thier stomata as open to get enough CO2. Less evaporation means less rainfall and so the rainforets would dry up and die, in other words, low CO2 levels sustain equatorial rain forests!

:wow:

[gristy]

1. Bad things will happen with global warming, but the detailed cause and

effect sequence you describe would need considerable research to determine its validity.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Possibly...

although increased temps would also increase ocean evaporation and rainfall, which might offset it. Definatley one to think about.

But I'd still be more worried about chainsaws, to be honest.

[Odin2005]

3. Looks like I was right.

People should read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, a good up-to-date primer of the latest GW stuff and climate research.

Aprently this is really gonna suck, if the Amazon dries out the amount of carbon tied up in vegetation there will drop by 78% and the soil of Amazonia will loose 72% of it's organic matter. When that happens we can say hello to 1000ppm CO2 levels. :scared: