FY 1994 Annual Report to the Regents

Global Change Research
at the University of Michigan

Global Change research at the UM has been growing in recent years. UM faculty are involved in biological, ecosystems, physical, engineering, health, and social science research related to global environmental change. Since July 1992, OVPR seed money has been leveraged into almost $3 million in research grants from outside agencies for investigators from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts; School of Natural Resources and Environment; and School of Public Health.

Among these researchers is Henry Pollock, a professor of geological sciences, who is reconstructing the major ups and downs of past climates. Changes in climate in prehistoric times can be "read" from temperature profiles deep into the Earth taken in bore holes. Such reconstructions of paleoclimates will give modelers of modern climate change something to test their models against. His work is funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

James Teeri, professor of biology, and Donald Zak, associate professor of natural resources, have grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation for projects related to studies of the biological effects of increasing atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is projected to double over the next century if fossil fuel emissions continue to increase. The increase in carbon dioxide will produce fundamental changes in plant growth rates. Rising CO2 levels will also affect levels of carbon and nitrogen deposited in the soil and the microorganisms living there. The researchers hypothesize, in the short term, more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere sets off a self-fertilizing feedback loop involving plants, microbes, and soil.

Teeri, Zak, and others at the UM Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan are conducting an experiment comparing aspen grown under current levels of carbon dioxide (about 350 parts per million) with those grown in double the ambient CO2. Preliminary studies found that trees grown under higher carbon dioxide levels experienced doubled rates of photosynthesis, and a large amount of carbon and greater than normal amounts of nitrogen were stored in the soil around the tree roots. Zak has developed a complex model of the interactions of plant roots, soil microbes, carbon, nitrogen, and the atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Also at the UM Biological Station monitoring equipment to measure ultraviolet (UV) radiation is being installed. For the first time, monitoring equipment here and at nine other U.S. sites will provide good measurement of the UV light reaching the ground. It is thought to be increasing due to holes in the ozone layer. Ultraviolet radiation is known to trigger skin cancer and cataracts, damage the immune system, and reduce the rate of photosynthesis of plants and algae. Robert Gray, professor of environmental and industrial health in the School of Public Health, is the lead researcher on this U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded project.