From: ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri (Tony Travis)
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: Andrew and Fairchild Gardens
Date: 2 Sep 92 17:25:58 GMT
Reply-To: ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri
Distribution: bionet
Organization: Rowett Research Institute
Original-To: plantbio@uk.ac.daresbury

In article <9282150840.MIN-LZHCa26691.bionet-news@uk.ac.daresbury> you write:
: In article <1992Aug31.101420.20725@gserv1.dl.ac.uk> ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri writes:
: 			.
: 			.
: 			.
: >Is this return to high frequency storms associated with global warming ??
: As others have commented, it's not
: clear that this is a well-posed
: question.

Well posed by who?  by me, or in general?

I understood (wrongly it appears) that one of the anticipated
consequences of global warming, in addition to raising the sea level,
was to increase the frequency and severity of storms because more solar
radiation was absorbed by the (so called) greenhouse gasses such as CO2
in the atmosphere.  All storms, ultimately derive their energy from the
sun.

BTW in a real greenhouse, the glass is transparent to incoming (short
wavelength infra-red) radiation which is absorbed by the plant leaves,
and re-radiated at a longer wavelength.  The energy is trapped because
the glass is opaque to longer wavelength infra-red radiation.

As anyone who has used an IRGA knows CO2 absorbs infra-red radiation
(rather than reflecting it like the glass in a greenhouse).  But, the
principle of an energy trap is the same for any greenhouse 'effect'.

: >And, what did the hurricane do to the fragile ecosystem of the everglades ??
: Hurricanes are *part* of "the
: fragile ecosystem ..."  That's far
: from a complete answer, of course,
: but perhaps it's appropriate to
: note at least that.

Not if the hurricane was in some way a consequence of the build-up of
CO2 caused by our excessive use of fossil fuel and not, therefore, part
of the 'natural' balance of the fragile everglades ecosystem.

I do accept that hurricanes form part of the ecosystem though, along
with volcanic eruptions and earthquakes etc. and are responsible for
the wide dispersal of seeds.  Does anyone know if there are varieties
that require being tossed around in a hurricane to break dormancy ...

: >The UK was lashed by the tail end of these storms over the weekend and THAT
: >was bad enough.  As you know, I am interested in the ability of crops to
: >resist 'lodging' damage.  The crops in the North East of Scotland have been
: I didn't know, but perhaps I haven't
: been reading bionet.plants long enough.
: Please, tell more:  do Scots farmers
: interplant barley with oats to reduce

I'm not an expert on cereal husbandry, but I thought oats was
deliberately introduced into barley crops in the past to suppress the
emergence of other weeds rather than to support the canopy ??

: lodging?  What other crops have problems
: with lodging?  What approaches--plant
: breeding?  other?--are taken to improving
: European cultivars in these regards?

I'm collaborating on a project with NOSCA (North of Scotland College of
Agriculture) comparing the anatomy of strong and weak strawed rape varieties
at the moment, and rape varieties are grown in combination to support the
crop canopy.

	Tony.

--
Dr. A.J.Travis,                       |  Tony Travis
Rowett Research Institute,            |  JANET: <ajt@uk.ac.sari.rri>
Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,            |  other: <ajt@rri.sari.ac.uk>
Aberdeen, AB2 9SB. UK.                |  phone: 0224-712751
Newsgroups: bionet.plants