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Response of Seedlings of Tropical Trees to Cool Temperatures Predicted by ‘Nuclear Winter’ Scenarios

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Fakhri A. Bazzaz  and
Manuel T. Lerdau
Fakhri A. Bazzaz
Affiliation:
H.H. Timken Professor of Science, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Manuel T. Lerdau
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
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Extract

Mathematical models predict that a nuclear war could cause widespread reductions in light intensity and temperature. To assess the possible impact of these reductions on lowland tropical rain-forests, we exposed seedlings of three species of the family Moraceae to various combinations of day and night conditions under reduced light. The species represent three stages in tropical rain-forest succession: Cecropia obtusifolia is an early-successional pioneer, Trichospermum mexicanum is a mid-successional tree, and Brosimum alicastrum is a late-successional tree of mature-phase forests.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , Winter 1990 , pp. 337 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1990

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