Climate Change Can Supercharge Plant Growth

Feb. 24, 2009 -- Climate change might help some plants thrive -- not just because temperatures will be warmer, but because temperatures will be more variable.

As deeply frozen winters give way to more cycles of freezing and thawing, certain plants will become more productive, according to one of the first studies to consider the link, though not all plants will benefit and those that do might suffer in other ways.

"These findings illustrate that climate change will provide many surprising effects in ecosystems," said lead researcher Juergen Kreyling, of the University of Bayreuth in Germany. "Freeze-thaw cycles are just one phenomenon that is not yet understood but is rapidly changing."

According to projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many places with traditionally cold winters will begin to flirt more frequently with the freezing point as the climate heats up.

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Normally, a thick snow cover insulates the soil in temperate and high-latitude regions, keeping ground temperatures fairly constant. But warmer days will lead to less snow on the ground, meaning the soil is more likely to freeze and thaw many times over the course of the season.

Previous research has shown that thawing and refreezing affects nutrient levels in the soil as well as microbial activity. Kreyling and colleagues wanted to know what the shift in winter weather would do to plant life.

In the winter of 2005-2006, the researchers planted several species of common grasses and herbs in 30 plots on the outskirts of Bayreuth, where average January temperatures usually hover around negative one degree Celsius (30 degrees F). Each plot contained 100 individual plants and a buried heating wire that could artificially thaw the soil.