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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		Why ecosystems play an important role in climate change
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:02
	Publish Date:		2017-01-31 18:00:00
	Description:		Over the past two years, the effect of a strong El Nino has dramatically increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, while the amount of fossil fuel emissions produced did not grow. Trevor Keenan, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has found out exactly why this happened. “The effect of El Nino was negative for ecosystems, had a detrimental impact of global droughts and high temperatures caused a net release of carbon dioxide from ecosystems to the atmosphere. ” Keenan says ecosystems play an important role in regulating the carbon cycle. Sometimes plants release more carbon dioxide, and sometimes they retain more CO2. So, when drastic climate events like El Nino happen, living conditions for plants become more difficult and they release CO2 back into the atmosphere. “Hence, speeding up climate change independent of what we do with emissions. So we really need to think about how to protect ecosystems." Especially because scientists are projecting that the earth is accelerating its warming pace.
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