ABSTRACT
The impacts of climatic change on natural ecosystems are, in some ways, potentially even more serious because agriculture has the capacity to adapt faster to climatic change. Rising carbon dioxide levels will not only affect climate, they will also have a direct, beneficial influence on plant growth. Increased carbon dioxide acts as a fertilizer for many types of plant. The gap between laboratory experiments and conditions in the field has been emphasised by recent work which enclosed an area of Alaskan tundra, with a greenhouse to measure its response to changing carbon dioxide and temperature conditions. The study of possible future changes in ecosystems resulting from global warming can be carried out via computer modelling exercises, the study of analogues from the past, and the examination of changes occurring at the present. Forests are especially vulnerable to the effects of climatic change through temperature stress, changes in precipitation, increases in pests and diseases and competition from other ecosystems.
