Chapter 8- The Forest and the Trees

Global warming is seen only as a threat to species who depend on the cold. Chapter 8 discusses that global warming poses a threat to the tropics as well. Kolbert visits Manú National Park where she meets a forest ecologist, Miles Silman, who studies how the climate has changed in the tropics. Kolbert presents a hypothetical journey from the North Pole to the United States. Kolbert discusses how if you travel more and more south the population of trees increase this is to show the relationship between biodiversity and climate. Tree diversity increases because “ the variety of life is most impoverished at the poles and richest at low latitudes” (152) meaning organic development moderately increased from the poles of the equator. But why do tropical climates contain more biodiversity?

One explanation for biodiversity in the tropics is because of an evolutionary clock allowing organisms to produce more offspring which increases the likelihood of genetic mutations leading to an emergence of new species. Another theory discusses the stability of tropical temperatures. The final theory mentions the history of the tropics and since they’ve been around for so long it allowed them to diversify and accumulate over the years. The variation in temperature affects the survival rate of any species. As the rate of warming continues to increase organisms have to either adapt or migrate. Scientists have used the species-area relationship (SAR), indicating the larger the environment the more species you will find, to model possible effects of climate change. The correlation between extinction and SAR helps to calculate the population that is lost. Chapter 8 connects to the theme of environmental problems because of human activity on the environment. For example,“different groups of trees will respond differently to warming, and so contemporary association will breakdown. New ones will form. In this planet-wide restructuring, some species will thrive. Many plants may in fact benefit from high carbon dioxide levels, since it will be easier for them to obtain the CO2 they need for photosynthesis. Others will fall behind and eventually drip out.” (169) Climate change will make life-altering changes for certain organisms. It’s difficult for scientists to estimate which ecosystems can survive such troublesome changes. If trends continue extinction rates will increase rapidly in the near future and many species won’t be able to adapt without proper regulation by humans.

Hanging out with my sisters in London.