The Nutrition of Food Could Worsen With Climate Change:

Lily Poor 
Mr. Gray 
Physics .1, Period: G 
March 19, 2017

Climate Change Could Worsen the Nutrition of Food:

      Selenium, one of the most vital nutrients needed for humans, is becoming sparse in soil due to climate change. Selenium helps our bones develop, helps our immune systems stay strong, and helps us with various other forms of our vital health. Without this nutrient humans across the country could be in danger of weak bone development and weak immune systems making them more prone to illness. With climate change, this nutrient is becoming sparse in soils across the world. Zinc and Iron are unfortunately also becoming harder and harder to retrieve due to climate change. These nutrient deficiency problems are largely due to climate change.
      Scientists at Harvard have been working together to try their best to find the amount of selenium found throughout our world and see which places had higher concentrations of the nutrient and which places had lower. After extensive research these Harvard colleagues found that places where climate change has made the air dry and land arid are found to have much lower amounts of selenium, however in places that are rich with high organic carbon such as a leafy area, or an area with an abundance of clay, tend to have substantial and significant amounts of selenium. They also found that not only does the climate affect the population of selenium in the area but it also affects the soil in the area and how well it can obtain the nutrients. It is predicted that by the end of this century 2/3's of heavily cultivated agriculture land will loose selenium and other vital nutrients such as zinc and iron due to climate change. 

Above is the map of selenium concentrate throughout the world found by Harvard Scientists

     This map shows worrisome affects of climate change on selenium. Meyers and other scientists gathered information of selenium concentrations from 1980 to our current day and found that they are dropping rapidly. These scientists believes this is due to the 2.2 degree celsius increase in temperature each year. These theories all make sense because they know that selenium concentrations are much higher in wetter, damper, and heavily carbon dioxide concentrated conditions, therefore temperature increases and increases in drier land will cause selenium concentrations to go down.
    A plant physiologist, Philip White of the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie, Scotland, took a look at this study and agreed that these prediction are worrisome. White also brought up the fact that selenium has a thin line between enough and too much. An excess of selenium can be a dangerous thing for humans health, however, too little can also be extremely danger for humans. Therefore scientists decided to look further into how plant species vary in building up selenium in their tissues. They found that some plants, like the Brazilian nut, produce so much selenium that it their high concentration is actually dangerous for health. However other crops do not produce enough selenium. This complicates the process of controlling these shortages without creating an excess of selenium.
    To test if they could control the selenium concentrations of plants by changing their carbon dioxide  intake, these scientist conducted an expensive experiment. They took common and largely grown and produced crops such as, wheat, rice, field peas, soybeans, maize and sorghum, and tested them in the "FACE" experiment.  FACE means that they will enrich these crops by putting them in an area where CO2 will be freely put into the air. 

Above is am image of the Free-Air CO2 enriched habitats where plants are being grown to test selenium concentrations!

      As seen in the image above they are using a system of skinny ducts that emit carbon dioxide upon these crops. Scientists said that the typical carbon dioxide emissions being produced by these ducts where 363 to 386 ppm, however they pushed for the pipes to produce 546 to 586 ppm. The results of this experiments gave scientists an idea as to where these crops should be grown and how carbon dioxide rich environments could benefit several crops. 
 

Above is the results from the FACE experiment on each of the crops tested. 

      As seen in the chart above, several crops benefitted from the exposure to a carbon dioxide rich environment. This chart does not show the selenium concentration however it shows other vital nutrients and how they increased due to the carbon dioxide air emissions.
     This research greatly helped these scientists see how they can prevent nutrient deficiencies in our world's future. With this research Scientists will now consider where the best places to grow these crops will be. They can use this information to see if grasslands or drylands would be the best place to produce particular crops so that their nutrients can fulfill their highest potential. Overall, this experiment and research will greatly benefit our health's future. This research can change how future generations get their nutrients and maintain a healthy balance of nutrient's in their bodies. This research will reduce the future amount of nutrient deficiencies. The experiments and research conducted by these scientists will benefit this world's future!

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/changing-climate-could-worsen-foods-nutrition?tgt=nr