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Drought-stricken forests absorb ten per cent less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and are up to three times as likely to die as trees growing in normal conditions, according to new research highlighting the dangers of climate change.
Researchers from the University of Oxford studied trees across the Amazon and found that the rate of photosynthesis – by which trees convert carbon into energy to fuel their activities – slowed by about a tenth in areas afflicted by drought.
The paper, published in the journal Nature, concludes that the slowdown in photosynthesis was the result of the trees channelling their more limited energy reserves into growth, rather than maintaining their health, for example through tissue maintenance.
This is because the trees need to continue to grow their roots, leaves and branches so as not to be at a disadvantage when competing for light, water or nutrients, the paper suggests.
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Show all 15 1 /15In pictures: Changing climate around the world In pictures: Changing climate around the world Greenland Calved icebergs from the nearby Twin Glaciers are seen floating on the water in Qaqortoq, Greenland
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Iran Oroumieh, one of the biggest saltwater lakes on Earth, has shrunk more than 80 percent to 1,000 square kilometers in the past decade. It shrinks mainly because of climate change, expanded irrigation for surrounding farms and the damming of rivers that feed the body of water
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Greenland A boat navigates among calved icebergs from the nearby Twin Glaciers in Qaqortoq, Greenland. Boats are a crucial mode of transportation in the country that has few roads. As cities like Miami, New York and other vulnerable spots around the world strategize about how to respond to climate change, many Greenlanders simply do what theyve always done: adapt. 'Were used to change, said Greenlander Pilu Neilsen. 'We learn to adapt to whatever comes. If all the glaciers melt, well just get more land
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Norway The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is seen after being inaugurated in Longyearbyen, Norway. The 'doomsday' seed vault built to protect millions of food crops from climate change, wars and natural disasters opened deep within an Arctic mountain in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard
In pictures: Changing climate around the world France A technician preparing to drain a vast underground lake at the Tete Rousse glacier on the Mont Blanc Alpine mountain, to avert a potentially disatrous flood. Some 65,000 cubic metres (2.3 million cubic feet) of water have gathered in a cavity, dangerously raising the pressure beneath the mountain, a favourite spot for holiday makers in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Switzerland Cracked mud is picture at sunrise in the dried shores of Lake Gruyere affected by continuous drought near the western Switzerland village of Avry-devant-Pont. A leading climate scientist warned that Europe should take action over increasing drought and floods, stressing that some climate change trends were clear despite variations in predictions
In pictures: Changing climate around the world USA Cattle graze on grassland that remains dry and brown at the height of the rainy season in south of Bakersfield, California. Its third straight year of unprecedented drought, California is experiencing its driest year on record, dating back 119 years, and dating back as far as 500 years, according to some scientists who study tree rings
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Pakistan An aerial view shows tents of flood-displaced people surrounded by water in southern Sehwan town. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) executive secretary Christiana Figueres met with people displaced by last year's devastating floods. Catastrophic monsoon rains that swept through the country in 2010 and affected some 20 million people, destroyed 1.7 million homes and damaged 5.4 million acres of arable land
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Australia An aerial view of flooding in North Wagga Wagga. Climate change is amplifying risks from drought, floods, storm and rising seas, threatening all countries but small island states, poor nations and arid regions in particular, UN experts warned
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Honduras Damages caused by a landslide on the Pan-American highway near La Moramulca, 55 Km south of Tegucigalpa. International highways have been washed out, villages isolated and thousands of families have lost homes and crops in a region that the United Nations has classified as one of the most affected by climate change
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Indonesia A resident sprays water on a peatland fire in Pekanbaru district in Riau province on Indonesia's Sumatra island. Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands, is one of the world's biggest carbon emitters because of rampant deforestation. US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday issued a clarion call for nations to do to more to combat climate change, calling it 'the world's largest weapon of mass destruction'
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Indonesia An excavator clearing a peatland forest area for a palm oil plantations in Trumon subdistrict, Aceh province, on Indonesia's Sumatra island. As Southeast Asia's largest economy grows rapidly, swathes of biodiverse forests across the archipelago of 17,000 islands have been cleared to make way for paper and palm oil plantations, as well as for mining and agriculture. The destruction has ravaged biodiversity, placing animals such as orangutans and Sumatran tigers in danger of extinction, while also leading to the release of vast amounts of climate change-causing carbon dioxide
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Bangladesh Stagnant rain water with tannery waste make the Hazaribagh area in Old Dhaka as well as Buriganga River the most polluted. Each year during the seven-month long dry season between October and April the Buriganga River becomes totally stagnant with its upstream region drying up and becoming polluted from toxic waste from city industries
In pictures: Changing climate around the world Bangladesh Waste water from Dhaka city drained to the River Buriganga contributes to its pollutions. On the World Water Day observed in 2007 under the theme Coping with Water Scarcity, under the leadership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, DrikNEWS explores some of the images of the river. UN-Water has identified coping with water scarcity as part of the strategic issues and priorities requiring joint UN action. The theme highlights the significance of cooperation and importance of an integrated approach to water resource management of water at international, national and local levels
In pictures: Changing climate around the world China Heavy smog has been lingering in northern and eastern parts of China, disturbing the traffic, worsening air pollution and forcing the closure of schools. China's Environment Ministry said it will send inspection teams to provinces and cities most seriously affected by smog to ensure rules on fighting air pollution are being enforced
But by neglecting their health, the trees are also much more likely to die from a drought, according to the report.
The increase in tree deaths and the reduced carbon intake of the remaining forests will increase accelerate global warming as Co2 is released into the atmosphere.
“As trees die and decompose, the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will increase, potentially speeding up climate change during tropical droughts,” said Dr Christopher Doughty, of the University of Oxford.
“These plots are our canaries in the climate change coal mine. They can give us important into the actual mechanisms for how these complex forests are responding to extreme climates,” added Professor Yadvinder Malhi, also from the University of Oxford.
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