greenhouse effect

Examples of greenhouse effect in the following topics:

• Causes of Global Climate Change

  • Global climate change is cyclical and happens naturally; however, modern human society's impact has had unprecedented negative effects.
  • Greenhouse gases are probably the most significant drivers of the climate.
  • When heat energy from the sun strikes the earth, gases known as greenhouse gases trap the heat in the atmosphere, similar to how the glass panes of a greenhouse keep heat from escaping.
  • Greenhouse gases, however, reflect much of the thermal energy back to the earth's surface.
  • Greenhouse gases, as they absorb and emit radiation, are an important factor in the greenhouse effect, or the warming of earth due to carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

• The Nitrogen Cycle

  • Atmospheric nitrogen is associated with several effects on earth's ecosystems, including the production of acid rain (as nitric acid, HNO3) and greenhouse gas (as nitrous oxide, N2O), potentially causing climate change.
  • A major effect from fertilizer runoff is saltwater and freshwater eutrophication: a process whereby nutrient runoff causes the excess growth of microorganisms, depleting dissolved oxygen levels and killing ecosystem fauna.

• Studying Ecosystem Dynamics

  • A conceptual model describes ecosystem structure and dynamics and shows how environmental disturbances affect the ecosystem, although its ability to predict the effects of these disturbances is limited.
  • An analytical model is created using simple mathematical formulas to predict the effects of environmental disturbances on ecosystem structure and dynamics.
  • A simulation model is created using complex computer algorithms to holistically model ecosystems and to predict the effects of environmental disturbances on ecosystem structure and dynamics.
  • Greenhouses contribute to mesocosm studies because they allow us to control the environment and, thus, the experiment.
  • The mesocosms in this example, tomato plants, have been placed in a greenhouse to control the air, temperature, water, and light distribution in order to observe the effects when exposed to different amounts of each factor.

• Changing Human Behavior in Response to Biodiversity Loss

  • The Act, and others like it in other countries, is a useful tool, but it suffers because it is often difficult to get a species listed or to get an effective management plan in place once it is listed.
  • In relation to global warming, The Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that came out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that committed countries to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, was ratified by some countries, but spurned by others.
  • Some goals for reduction in greenhouse gasses were met and exceeded by individual countries, but worldwide, the effort to limit greenhouse gas production is not succeeding.

• Auxins, Cytokinins, and Gibberellins

  • Auxins also act as a relay for the effects of the blue light and red/far-red responses.
  • Applying synthetic auxins to tomato plants in greenhouses promotes normal fruit development.
  • Many effects on plant development are under the influence of cytokinins, either in conjunction with auxin or another hormone.
  • Other effects of GAs include gender expression, seedless fruit development, and the delay of senescence in leaves and fruit.
  • Differentiate among the types of plant hormones and their effects on plant growth

• Abscisic Acid, Ethylene, and Nontraditional Hormones

  • Its activity counters many of the growth-promoting effects of GAs and auxins.
  • These effects were caused by ethylene volatilizing from the lamps.
  • The best-known effect of the hormone, however, is the promotion of fruit ripening .
  • Horticulturalists inhibit leaf dropping in ornamental plants by removing ethylene from greenhouses using fans and ventilation.
  • Their roles are less understood than the effects of the major hormones described so far.

• Human Population Growth

  • Most scientists agree that climate change caused by the emission of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) is a significant consequence of human activities.

• Natural and Artificial Methods of Asexual Reproduction in Plants

  • These can be separated; they are first grown under greenhouse conditions before they are moved to field conditions.

• Pharmacogenomics, Toxicogenomics, and Metagenomics

  • The effectiveness and safety of drugs can be determined through pharmacogenomics.
  • Pharmacogenomics, also called toxicogenomics, involves evaluating the effectiveness and safety of drugs on the basis of information from an individual's genomic sequence.
  • Studying changes in gene expression could provide information about the transcription profile in the presence of the drug, which can be used as an early indicator of the potential for toxic effects.
  • Personal genome sequence information can be used to prescribe medications that will be most effective and least toxic on the basis of the individual patient's genotype.
  • Metagenomics can be used to identify new species more rapidly and to analyze the effect of pollutants on the environment .

• Past and Present Effects of Climate Change

  • Results of climate change, past and present, have been documented and include species extinction, rising sea levels, and effects on organisms.
  • Phenology is the study of the effects of climatic conditions on the timing of periodic lifecycle events, such as flowering in plants or migration in birds.
  • This mismatched timing of plants and pollinators could result in injurious ecosystem effects because, for continued survival, insect-pollinated plants must flower when their pollinators are present.
  • The effect of global warming can be seen in the continuing retreat of Grinnel Glacier.