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Trees' Leaves Grow At a Cool 70° All Over the World

Posted by timothy on from the 73°-is-right-out dept.

biogeochick writes "Ever turn on the air conditioner on a hot day? How about a heater when it gets cold? OK, so we all know that humans act to keep themselves cool, but what about trees? A recent article on tree core isotopic evidence has shown that trees from tropical to boreal forests all grow at 70 degrees. The study, published in Nature by some fantastic researchers (so one of them is my adviser, so sue me) and covered by NPR on All Things Considered, has shed some light on the convergent temperature at which trees perform photosynthesis." Update: 06/19 21:31 GMT by T : I give, I give -- that's 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

6 of 537 comments (clear)

  1. Shameless karma whore by LighterShadeOfBlack · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's 21C for anyone living in the 21st century.

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    Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
    1. Re:Shameless karma whore by evdubs · · Score: 5, Informative

      Uhh.. no it isn't. According to wikipedia, there are three "standard" temperatures you can use to calibrate your thermometer for a Fahrenheit scale.

      1) 0F - the stable temperature of ice, water, and NH_4Cl
      2) 32F - where water freezes
      3) 96F - average body temperature

      Alcohol is not used anywhere.

    2. Re:Shameless karma whore by rocketPack · · Score: 5, Informative
      The parent is not kidding:
      40 rods = 0.125miles
      1 hogshead = 63 U.S. Gallons
      So... ((0.125miles)*5280ft/mi)/63 gallons=10.476 feet per gallon

      GP must drive a Hummer... perhaps only in reverse, like Mother Goose.

    3. Re:Shameless karma whore by Simon+Brooke · · Score: 5, Informative

      And that's why an American paper should be using the metric system? Because the 95% of the world that's not in America is too stupid to realize that it's an American publication writing to an American audience using the units of measure in use in America? Errrrr... hate to tell you this, but the journal in question is Nature. Published by Macmillan Publishers Ltd, a British company owned by a German group, for an international audience.
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      I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
  2. Re:Why are plants green? by solanum · · Score: 5, Informative

    Mod parent down. This is absolute rubbish, how did it get to +5 informative? I assume it's there as a joke so it should only be +5 funny, or possibly now, +5 fooled Slashdot. I am a plant physiologist, there are three basic types of chlorophyll in land plants, a,b & c. They have slightly different spectra, but they are not blue and yellow, they all have minimal absorbance in the green part of the spectrum and thus look green. The yellows and reds in senescing leaves are from carotenoids and anthocyanins.

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    Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes.
  3. Re:Why are plants green? by postglock · · Score: 5, Informative
    The green colour of chlorophyll relates to the historical precursors to the first photosynthetic organisms. Originally (a few billion years ago), early bacteria were non-photosynthetic, fermenting carbon anaerobically. This rapidly depleted the primordial "soup." The first organisms to utilise light (something akin to Halobacterium halobium) used a pigment called bacteriorhodopsin to help its metabolism. Bacteriorhodopsin absorbs a central band of visible light.

    The evolution of chlorophyll followed (perhaps in Cyanobacteria) in organisms at the bottom of the sea. These were the first organisms to fix carbon dioxide. Being at the bottom of the ocean, only the far bands of visible light were available to them (blue and red), and hence green chlorophyll evolved.

    Since then, accessory pigments have also evolved (e.g. phycobiliproteins), which have reclaimed other parts of the visible spectrum, and changed the colour of the plants or algae.