Bogged down.

This is me working hard. The music keeps me going. Picture courtesy of Lucy Bingham, check out her awesome doodles here: http://instagram.com/lucydoodles

University life has taken a turn for the worst! With lots of deadlines in the next month and then a month to revise for my exams, time is a valuable commodity which I need to use wisely. For that reason my blog posts will be limited over the next few months.

I thought it might be a good idea to give you an update on what I am doing in my studies - my little bit towards a better future. This week I have been focussing on two projects, both to be completed in the next month.

The first is a literature review considering the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum as an anologue for future climate change. It is often suggested to be one of the best climate analogues due to a few similar characteristics, including the magnitude of greenhouse gas input and the composition of the greenhouse gases. These are important factors because it is the various properties and amounts of the greenhouse gases that partially control radiative forcing and the temperature increases we are currently experiencing. What can be gained from the PETM, is an insight into the climate sensitivity and the kind of feedbacks that may be expected from anthropogenic emissions. However, I am not sure how much it can be used as an analogue beyond that. The rate of carbon input currently in unprecidented and on top of this, other anthropogenic effects such as land change will have to figure in to any predictions for the future.

I still have a lot to do on this project but I will post the version once I've had it marked. In the meantime if you have any opinions of ideas on this subject please let me know!

This picture would be pretty dull without the Baobabs. Taken from: http://natureology101.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/natureology-species-of-the-day-grandidiers-baobab-adansonia-grandidieri/

The second project also involves climate change, but is mainly focussed on the conservation of Grandidier's Baobab. This majestic tree species is suggested to be endangered on the IUCN redlist due to the effects of land change on its habitat. The aims of my project are to predict the future distribution of this species, taking into account both the changing climate and the changing land. In conjunction these factors will have devastating effects on many plants species across the world. As the climate changes, organisms will tend to migrate either latitudinally or altitudinally to keep within their preferred habitat; however, with large changes in the land it may be immpossible for the plants and animals to migrate, leaving them stranded in an undesirable position which could lead to their extinction.

I'm really hoping that my results from this can be used to help in the conservation of Grandidier's Baobab.

Anyway, I better get back to it! All the best!