DoomsdaysCWFrom April, 2024:
#TheBigDry: #forests and #shrublands are dying in parched #WesternAustralia
15/04/2024
"#Perth has just had its driest six months on record, while Western Australia sweltered through its #HottestSummer on record. Those records are remarkable in their own right. But these records are having real consequences.
"Unlike us, trees and shrubs can’t escape the heat and aridity. While we turn up the air conditioning, they bear the full brunt of the changing climate. Our previous research has shown plants are more vulnerable to #heatwaves than we had thought.
"Beginning in February 2024, large areas of vegetation started to turn brown and die off. With no real relief in sight, we unfortunately expect this mass plant death event to intensify and expand.
"Just like a coral bleaching event, WA’s plants are responding to the cumulative stress of the unusually long, hot and dry summer. And just like bleaching, global heating is likely to cause more regular mass plant deaths. The last time this happened in 2010-11, almost 20% of trees and shrubs in affected areas died.
"This is in line with #ClimateChange models, which pinpoint south-western Australia as a warming and drying hotspot."
#Extinction #ClimateCrisis
#ClimateCatastrophe
#Drought #RecordHeat
