Old, pressed flowers give climate clues: study

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 9/22/10 | Alister Doyle

[NormsRevenge]

OSLO (Reuters) – Flowers picked up to 150 years ago in Victorian England show that old collections of pressed plants around the world can help the study of climate change, scientists said on Wednesday.

Ecologists compared samples of early spider orchids, held in collections with notes showing the exact day in spring when they were picked in southern England from 1848-1958, and dates when the same flower blossomed in the wild from 1975-2006.

"Warmer years were associated with earlier flowering ... In both cases flowering was advanced by about six days per 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) rise in average spring temperature," they wrote in the Journal of Ecology after cross-checking with local temperature records.

The match between higher temperatures and quicker flowering for both old and modern orchids showed for the first time that botanical collections could be a reliable source to study climate, even if temperature records were lacking, they said.

Vast numbers of specimens of plants and animals are in collections around the world, some of them dating back 250 years and long before there were reliable temperature records in many nations.

"It potentially opens up new uses for ... specimens -- this could provide us with long-term data about climate," said Anthony Davy, a professor at the University of East Anglia who was a co-author of the study led by colleague Karen Robbirt.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists said in a 2007 report that average world temperatures rose 0.7 degree Celsius (1.3 F) over the 19th century, mainly .. due to a build-up of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels.

Tree rings are among biological indicators of climate in past centuries, .. Manmade global warming is very likely to be the dominant cause of warming in the past half-century, according to the U.N panel.

[SunkenCiv]

I think there's a joke about pansies on the brink of happening. Thanks NormsRevenge.

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·

[hedgetrimmer]

Let’s see, in the 19th century, the Tamboro volcano east of Java erupted in April 1815, one of the most explosive eruptions of the last 10,000 years, created the year without summer in New England in 1816.

Krakatoa’s eruption blew volcanic dust into the upper atmosphere which affected incoming solar radiation and the earth’s weather for several years.

We’ve had Pinatubo, Mt St Helen’s and that volcano in Iceland as recent significant events, with no data indicating the climate is warming, but it’s cooling instead.

[mplsconservative]

My poor orchid babies have to endure my indoor “climate”. Just had to take this post to brag, because these orchids amaze me. Our Lady Slipper is sending up three buds right now. Fourteen years, running, it has had two flowers each year that last around five to six months. Three is wonderful.

I just cut off the flower stalks from two Phaleonopsis orchids that opened on March 1st! Seven months of bloom! These were from Home Depot and I’ve had them rebloom for four years now.

Yeah, I’m an orchid and gardening, geek.