Adjustment of the Earth’s climate
Vegetation strongly affects the Earth’s climate and the composition of the atmosphere through the photosynthesis activity. Through this process, plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, trap carbon (C) to build organic molecules and release oxygen (O). Due to the extension of vegetation on Earth, the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide that get into this process are huge: every year, the plants’ photosynthesis releases approximately 70 billion tons of oxygen and consumes an equally huge amount of carbon dioxide.
Through the photosynthesis, plants counteract the many oxidation processes (for instance, combustion for the production of energy, as is in all the bodies of the living beings, or combustion in industrial processes and car engines), that, using the oxygen contained in the air and giving back carbon dioxide, cause the concentration of the former in the atmosphere to decrease and that of the latter to increase.
In this way, plants play an essential role for life on Earth: stabilising the gas composition of the atmosphere.
In addition, the stabilisation of the composition remarkably affects the atmospheric temperature and humidity; this subject will be dealt in more detail in the Section on “AIR”.
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A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
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30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and…
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10 April 2020
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
8 March 2022
8 March. We remember Rosalind Franklin, the great female DNA scientist.
DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss biochemist in 1869. It was a brilliant, but not complicated operation:…
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27 February 2022
In search of the riders of icebergs
International Polar Bear Day, set up by Polar Bears International, a non-profit organisation, was held on 27 February. The aim…
12 February 2022
A naturalist’s voyage around the world
Charles Darwin was just 22 years old when he set sail on board HMS Beagle...
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2 July 2014
A hoax? No thank you, I prefer to find out myself!
In Italian, bufala: a hoax, also means a female buffalo...
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30 July 2020
Holidays, yes! but they must be sustainable!
We have been speaking of sustainable behaviours to apply to our daily life, but what happens when we unplug and…
-
10 April 2020
What language does science speak?
Do you remember the game called “Chinese whispers”? All the participants had to stand in line and the game started…
From the Multimedia section
Facts
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CO2 “eating” trees
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Energy from palm trees
Oils that are obtained from palm trees can be used as alternatives to fossil fuels and their use is about…
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The Christmas tree tradition
People tell that in Germany, at Christmas Eve, Saint Boniface cut an oak and in that place...
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Truffles are hypogean (underground) fungi which grow in the presence of particular trees such as oaks, holm oaks and willows,…
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23 February 2012
CO2 “eating” trees
If a tree “eats” CO2 and produces oxygen it is easy to understand the importance it has in reducing the…
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16 May 2011
Energy from palm trees
Oils that are obtained from palm trees can be used as alternatives to fossil fuels and their use is about…
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13 May 2011
The Christmas tree tradition
People tell that in Germany, at Christmas Eve, Saint Boniface cut an oak and in that place...
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23 February 2012
CO2 “eating” trees
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16 May 2011
Energy from palm trees
Oils that are obtained from palm trees can be used as alternatives to fossil fuels and their use is about…