When I first saw this post my eyes slid over the bottom info, and I
thought it said "Poison Ivy State," then I wondered Alabama? and
re-read poison ivy site. Tsk, Margaret L
FYI
EARTHWATCH RADIO
Program script for 5 July 2006
Title: A Very Viny Future
Author: Alison Coulson
More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere might leave us itching for relief.
--------------------------------------------------------
For eight years, scientists have focused on a patch of forest in central
South Carolina. They've been experimenting with the effects of rising
carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere. The researchers boosted
levels of CO2 in part of the forest to levels we might expect to see in
half a century - about a 50 percent increase in this greenhouse gas.
William Schlesinger, an environmental chemist at Duke University, found
that most plants in the forest grew faster as a result of the extra
carbon dioxide. But he says one stood out.
"Poison ivy was essentially the winner of the competition. And it showed
a 70 percent growth increase that was sustained over the course of the
experiment."
There's a good explanation for poison ivy's exceptionally high growth.
Schlesinger says plants that grow as vines don't have to put much energy
into structural tissue, like trunks and branches. So they can focus
their energy on producing more leaves and getting longer and larger.
And since most people have an allergic reaction when their skin comes
into contact with poison ivy, a boost in the vine's growth might mean
more people will encounter the plant. Unfortunately, Schlesinger says we
can also expect poison ivy to become more potent.
"The poison ivy, as it turned out, not only was it growing faster and
accumulating more plant tissue, but it had higher concentrations of the
allergenic compound in its leaves. This is the compound that
essentially, when you rub it on your skin, produces the skin rash and
allergy. So we can look to poison ivy as being bigger as a plant and
more toxic in future environments of high carbon dioxide."
SOURCES: "Biomass and toxicity responses of poison ivy (Toxicodendron
radicans) to elevated atmospheric CO2" in Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS); abstract online at:
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0602392103v1
The Poison Ivy Site:
http://www.poison-ivy.org/
Debbie,
You might know it wouldn't be something good
that would thrive like that.
June
YIKES!!!!
Libba Griffith
libbagriffith@mindspring.com
Yeah...this is especially true for SC, I guess!
Debbie
Griffith
Sent: Monday, July 10, 2006 8:44 AM
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Poison Ivy info
YIKES!!!!
Libba Griffith
libbagriffith@mindspring.com
