ECOL 1000 1nd Edition Lecture 34Outline of Last Lecture I. BioreactorsII. Potential benefits of GMOsIII. Potential limitations of GMOsOutline of Current Lecture II. What is Climate Change?III. Human causesIV. IPCCV. Greenhouse effectVI. Temperature ChangeCurrent Lecture- NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC): one of the world’s premier centers for archiving, processing, and researching climate data- there is a strong correlation between human population growth and increased CO2 emissionso about 1 ton of CO2 added to the atmosphere per person per yearo long-term storage of carbon in the form of burned fossil fuelso Mauna Loa Laboratory, Hawaii Keeling Curve measures atmospheric carbon dioxide Plants take up CO2 during the year The last time CO2 regularly reached this level was 3-5 million years ago-before modern humans existed- Know this by looking at ice cores- Carbon comes in two stable isotopic formso Carbon12 is more common and lighter than carbon13o Because carbon13 is heavier, it is left behind during photosynthesis-plants tend to not take it from the atmosphereo Stable Isotope FormationThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.- 3 milankovitch cycles help explain past climatic variationo Past warm periods and ice ages can be attributed in part to the earth’s position relative to the sun - Predictive modelso Computer models made of multiple mathematical equations, to take into account factors that have affected past climateo Then they feed natural and man made factors into various models to see which circumstances match up with the global warming that has been observedo Only models that include human releases of greenhouse gases match the actual historic temperature trend- Feedback loop explains relationships- Forcers: factors that can affect global climate-can be positive or negativeo Positive forcers: greenhouse gasses and dark surfaces Increases temperatureo Negative forcer: increased cloud cover Decreases
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