Recently, many parts of the mainland have suffered a strong low temperature weather attack, many places since February the temperature is in a seriously low state, especially in the south, many places continue to soak in rainy and wet cold weather, frozen many people shiver, even South China is no exception, many Guangdong people have spent the coldest Spring Festival in the past 10 years, so that many netizens complained: Where did the good global warming go? Why is it so cold this year?
Global warming is a concept on a long-term scale, and short-term weather changes sometimes don't contradict long-term trends — in fact, under global warming, the climate is trending towards extremeization, and in addition to record-breaking heat waves, heavy rains, floods, droughts and storms, the frequency of stronger cold snaps may increase. Some studies have also pointed out that the effects of global warming and climate change, such as the South Pole, the southernmost point of the earth, are already manifested in many ways.
A recent study published in Contemporary Biology notes that scientists have noticed an acceleration in plant growth in Antarctica, which could be a potential turning point in the region's changing ecosystems under climate change models.
Although for many people, the impression of Antarctica is generally icy and cold, but Antarctica is not entirely a dime, in addition to some ice and snow animal activities, the area also has more than 700 kinds of algae, the vast majority of which are phytoplankton, as well as a variety of polar snow algae and diatoms living on the shore, in addition, Antarctica has about 100 species of bryophytes and 25 species of land money, and even angiosperms live - Deschampsia antarctica) is one of two flowering plants native to Antarctica, the other being Colobanthus quitensis. They live mainly in the South Orkney Islands, the South Shetland Islands and the western Antarctic Peninsula.
Antarctic grass
From 2009 to 2019, Nicoletta Cannone of the University of Insubria in Italy and colleagues measured the growth of these two native angiosperms in Antarctica, Antarctic hair grass and Antarctic lacquer grass, at many sites on Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands. Comparing the results of the past 50 years, the researchers found that these plants are not only getting denser, but also growing faster every year as the climate warms.
The study data points out that Antarctic grass grew rapidly in the 10 years surveyed from 2009 to 2019, increasing as much as in the 50 years from 1960 to 2009, which means that the growth rate of Antarctic grass has accelerated significantly in these 10 years, and the situation of Antarctic lacquer grass is also very similar, increasing more than 5 times in the same period.
Antarctic lacquer grass
Is the rapid growth of this plant good news? Scientists believe that there is a close correlation between the accelerated growth rate of this plant and the rising temperature in the region. Observational data show that between 1960 and 2011, the average annual temperature on Signi island showed a slow growth trend of 0.02 degrees Celsius per year, but after four colder years, Signey Island began to rise sharply (about 0.25 degrees Celsius per year), resulting in a net increase of about 1 degree Celsius between 1960 and 2018. During the most pronounced period of this century, there has also been a marked increase in the numbers of Antarctic hairy grass and Antarctic lacquer grass.
But this change may not be a good thing, and the researchers also point out that rising temperatures could allow invasive species to multiply and outnumber native plants, which could damage local ecosystems and biodiversity. At present, in Antarctica, some non-native plants have emerged (such as precocious grasses), and if the temperature rises further, the reproduction of invasive species is further accelerated, or the native Antarctic species are at risk of extinction.