Which daisy would start growing better and cover more area

Reference no: EM133363782

Case Study: Life has profoundly changed planet Earth in various ways. We will discuss throughout this class many ways in which life modifies its own environment, including planetary chemistry and climate. We will show via a theoretical example how vegetation cover can change the reflective characteristics of the land surface, i.e. the planetary albedo. Since life itself is influenced by climate, and it influences climate, this sets up a feedback. You will gain better understanding of climate feedbacks due to living organisms on a planet (i.e. the biosphere).

Imagine a very simplified model of a planet uniformly covered by land, with a stable uniform temperature everywhere, fixed at, say 15oC. Two species of daisies are the only life form on the planet: a white daisy, which is very reflective of solar radiation and has competitive advantage (grows better) in climates warmer than 15 oC, and a black daisy, which is very absorptive of solar radiation and has a competitive advantage (grows better) in climates colder than 15 oC. These are covering half of the planet's area each at the start of this thought experiment.

Question: If some external influence (e.g. the planet's Sun becomes brighter) causes surface cooling, which daisy would start growing better and cover more area, the black or the white one? Would that cause the overall planet albedo to increase or decrease? Would that albedo change itself cause warming or cooling of the planet?

Reference no: EM133363782

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