Edexcel IGCSE Biology human influences on the environment

Read the passage below. Use the information in the passage and your own knowledge to answer the questions that follow.

Supercharging plants to reduce global warming

The proportion of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased in the last 100 years. In 2020, a mass of 727 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide was released into the atmosphere from natural processes, along with a mass of 37 gigatonnes from human activities. Scientists have estimated that plants naturally remove a mass of 746 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The difference between what is removed and what is released causes atmospheric carbon dioxide to rise every year. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and a significant rise will cause global warming.

To help solve the problem of rising concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, scientists are planning to produce transgenic, supercharged plants that can remove atmospheric carbon dioxide and store it in their roots. The scientists estimate that if these plants can be developed, the plants could remove a mass of carbon dioxide equivalent to 50% of the emissions from human activities.

Coastal plants that have their roots in seawater contain a substance called suberin in the cell walls of the outer layer of the roots. Suberin is a waterproof substance that contains a high proportion of carbon atoms. Suberin is decomposed very slowly so remains in the soil for a long time.

The photograph shows a coastal plant called a mangrove.

To produce the supercharged plants, scientists intend to take the gene that codes for high suberin production from a coastal plant and insert it into crop plants. The crop plants used are perennial plants. Perennial plants live for many years rather than dying each winter. The transgenic crops would take in large amounts of carbon dioxide and use the carbon atoms to make suberin. The carbon would then be locked up and stored as suberin in the roots. After successfully producing one plant, they will use micropropagation rather than pollination to produce others.

These supercharged crop plants may have other uses. Suberin in roots helps to make them tolerant to soil with a high salt concentration, helping to produce higher crop yields in areas that have difficult growing conditions.

Read the passage below. Use the information in the passage and your own knowledge to answer the questions that follow.

Plants to the rescue

Since the early 20th century, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased rapidly. This has further increased in recent years due to more cars and the increased demand for electricity for homes and industry.

Scientists have found that plants play a critical part in removing this excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Using computer models, the scientists concluded that photosynthesis has increased by 30 per cent.

The scientists measured carbonyl sulfide found in ice cores and air samples. In addition to carbon dioxide, plants take in carbonyl sulfide gas during their natural carbon cycle, and this is frequently used as a measure of photosynthesis on a global scale. Terrestrial plants are removing about 29 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise contribute to an increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration.

A carbon sink is an ecosystem, such as a forest, that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it releases. The size of the carbon sink depends on the rate of photosynthesis but also on the levels of deforestation and respiration. The model the scientists used showed that the role of photosynthesis in producing a carbon sink in land plants is larger than estimated in most other models.

Other scientists are less confident about using carbonyl sulfide as a measure of photosynthesis. Plant absorption of carbonyl sulfide can vary depending upon the amount of light the plants receive. Therefore, the measure of global photosynthesis could be overestimated.

Regardless of the rate at which photosynthesis has increased, scientists agree that excess carbon dioxide is boosting the growth of plants. Trees are becoming leafier, and there is more wood. The wood is where most of the carbon is stored in the plant.

In experimental research, scientists exposed plants to double the normal concentration of carbon dioxide found in the atmosphere. Under these increased carbon dioxide conditions, the composition of the leaf tissues changed. This made the leaves tougher for herbivores to eat and made it harder for insect larvae to grow.

Scientists have also observed that when plants are exposed to increasing levels of carbon dioxide, the size of the stomatal pores on a leaf increases.