3 ms·

For crops that tolerate the extra heat. Those which don't will need to be grown further toward the poles, which will reduce the length of growing season.

theli0nheart 8y ago
Plants adapt. The ones that can tolerate the extra heat will survive better and therefore propagate more than plants that don't.
BurningFrog 8y ago
Reseeding a field with a new crop is technology known since thousands of years. I don't think there is any risk of areas reaching temperatures too hot for any plants? > which will reduce the length of growing season Why?
- GlenTheMachine 8y ago
  ...because plants that are overheated can't grow. Depending on how overheated they get they may merely become stressed, or they can die. But plants also need temperatures, particularly soil temperatures, that rise above some minimum before they germinate. So you need a period when the soil temperature is high enough, but the air temp is not too high. Figuring out the length of that window is very complicated. Corn, for instance, can't grow when the temp is over 104 or so (depending on cultivar) and dies when exposed to temps over 110 or so. It maximizes its growth rate at around 86 degrees. So: if you have a summer month when temps are regularly over 104, that's not really a growing season for corn. Thus you have to try to plant earlier and harvest earlier, and the window when you can do that successfully may be considerable shorter than it would if the temp stayed below 104 during the summer. So then you try to go closer to the poles. But -- depending on temperatures and a lot of other factors -- that may not be a totally satisfying solution either. Corn needs specific amounts of rain, which may or may not coincide with periods when the temperatures are good. It also needs large amounts of soil nitrogen, which may or may not be present in arctic soils, and if the plant doesn't have it growth is slowed. Corn also needs the soil temperature to be relatively high to germinate (above 50 degrees, again depending somewhat on cultivar). In arctic soils, it may take a while for the soil to warm up that much in the spring, and that may reduce your growing season. So how all the factors play out, and whether those factors result in a longer or shorter growing season, are intimately connected to exactly how the climate changes. I've used corn as an example, but of course other crops and wild plants all rely on complicated, interconnected conditions to thrive. The specifics are a bit different for every plant. It all depends. There are a lot of factors that we won't really know until people start trying to do it.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  It may become hotter, but solar declination isn't going to change. Move towards the poles and the sun will have lower elevation, fewer hours of light, and the balance of seasons will change. How much is enough to matter? Will the net effect be more or less than change from CO2 or temperature? You tell me. We seem to have a lot of unknowns.

theli0nheart 8y ago

Plants adapt. The ones that can tolerate the extra heat will survive better and therefore propagate more than plants that don't.

BurningFrog 8y ago

Reseeding a field with a new crop is technology known since thousands of years. I don't think there is any risk of areas reaching temperatures too hot for any plants? > which will reduce the length of growing season Why?

GlenTheMachine 8y ago
...because plants that are overheated can't grow. Depending on how overheated they get they may merely become stressed, or they can die. But plants also need temperatures, particularly soil temperatures, that rise above some minimum before they germinate. So you need a period when the soil temperature is high enough, but the air temp is not too high. Figuring out the length of that window is very complicated. Corn, for instance, can't grow when the temp is over 104 or so (depending on cultivar) and dies when exposed to temps over 110 or so. It maximizes its growth rate at around 86 degrees. So: if you have a summer month when temps are regularly over 104, that's not really a growing season for corn. Thus you have to try to plant earlier and harvest earlier, and the window when you can do that successfully may be considerable shorter than it would if the temp stayed below 104 during the summer. So then you try to go closer to the poles. But -- depending on temperatures and a lot of other factors -- that may not be a totally satisfying solution either. Corn needs specific amounts of rain, which may or may not coincide with periods when the temperatures are good. It also needs large amounts of soil nitrogen, which may or may not be present in arctic soils, and if the plant doesn't have it growth is slowed. Corn also needs the soil temperature to be relatively high to germinate (above 50 degrees, again depending somewhat on cultivar). In arctic soils, it may take a while for the soil to warm up that much in the spring, and that may reduce your growing season. So how all the factors play out, and whether those factors result in a longer or shorter growing season, are intimately connected to exactly how the climate changes. I've used corn as an example, but of course other crops and wild plants all rely on complicated, interconnected conditions to thrive. The specifics are a bit different for every plant. It all depends. There are a lot of factors that we won't really know until people start trying to do it.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
It may become hotter, but solar declination isn't going to change. Move towards the poles and the sun will have lower elevation, fewer hours of light, and the balance of seasons will change. How much is enough to matter? Will the net effect be more or less than change from CO2 or temperature? You tell me. We seem to have a lot of unknowns.