Any science minded folk out there?

[Malignanttoe]

So, I'm in the process of scripting a story which takes place in a post apocalyptic world and I'm wondering what specifically would happen if say, half of all the worlds vegetation was gone due to global forest fires...
I know about less oxygen, more carbondioxide, the obvious change in ecology, animal habitat ect., global warming, melting ice caps... but what would life be like for humanity (remember, 50% less vegetation...) a little harder to breath? A LOT harder? What areas would be unlivable due to heat? Just how much higher would sealevel be (if any). The story is planned to take place about 50-100 years after the fires as well. I'm just trying to imagine what day to day life in that kind of environment would be like...
Does any one have any *educated* guesses to this kind of thing? http://thestaronions.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[Euphony]

I don't know much about the environmental stuff, but don't forget about the medical side of it as well. Everyone's body needs a high percentage of oxygen in their blood in order to function properly--usually 100% in a normal healthy person while resting or doing menial tasks--and when it starts to drop below 90% you're going to have major problems. I've been at about 85% blood oxygen level before and it wasn't pretty. Even if you were relaxed in a calm, indoor, temperature-controlled environment you would still be turning blue and on the verge of passing out. It wouldn't be very realistic unless the humans in your story had evolved in some way to help stabilize their oxygen level or had machines to help them do so.

Sounds like a very interesting kind of post-apocalyptic story, though. You should jump on the Spongie bandwagon and do it for NaNoWriMo this year!

[Malignanttoe]

Sounds like a very interesting kind of post-apocalyptic story, though. You should jump on the Spongie bandwagon and do it for NaNoWriMo this year!
Dunno what that is lol.
I'm planning on this being done in comic book format though :D

[Euphony]

Dunno what that is lol.
I'm planning on this being done in comic book format though :D
Ahh ok, yeah NaNo isn't comic-book related. It's National Novel Writing Month; you try to write a 50,000 word novel throughout the course of November. More Spongies need to try it this year! :kindahappy:

[Malignanttoe]

Ahh ok, yeah NaNo isn't comic-book related. It's National Novel Writing Month; you try to write a 50,000 word novel throughout the course of November. More Spongies need to try it this year! :kindahappy:
Ah, I see. It's been a very long time since I even tried writing a short story lol. I doubt I could do a novel. :P

[Raven The Dark Angel]

This isn't really an educated guess. But what I would imagine is that the world wouldn't change all that much with just 50% vegetation. While there's a lot of oxygen that comes from the rainforest it's not the most abundant source. We actually get a large portion of it from the sea. I forget exactly how much but I remember hearing about that.

So on to the other end of it... lets say it did heavily effect the earth? Well breathing wouldn't be the hard part but rather if so much vegetation is missing (I'm thinking besides the forest and trees) then food would be harder to come by. You can't just live off of meat to get by.

If food wasn't a problem, and breathing still is. Then I imagine people and animals would die. After the chunk and bulk that die because they can't handle it, the air supply would stabilize better to a more livable portion.

Besides what's to stop them from planting a bunch of trees? After a population and animal die out planting trees could easily provide for the regrowth of the population again.

[Alisa_Tana]

Erk's a chemical biologist, I'll make him check this thread and give input when he gets back from swimming with the fishes....

But I did watch a few shows on Discovery and science channel and the like that deal with what-ifs.

Less polar ice caps makes for harsher winters in previously temperate zones, and hotter summers in tropic areas. More storm systems and the like = more rain, more rain = more erosion and flooding.

With no vegetation, there'd be nothing to hold the top soil in place - creating massive dust storms, like those that plagued American and Canadian plains during the 30s and that's plaguing western China now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl and http://www.grist.org/article/grossman-bites/ The dust storms are so intense that it becomes very hard to breath, and even using cloths people would still get sand in their lungs - which leads to trouble breathing even when there isn't a storm. The dust itself also winds up choking out surviving vegetation, making things even worse.


something else to consider is the ash that would be in the air after that much fire - Like with volcanoes, the ash would hang in the air for quite a while, blocking out sunlight, making it even harder for plants that didn't burn to continue to grow. After it settles it would bury plant life, smothering it. In areas surrounding the Mt. st. Helens eruption in 1980, the plant life is still very sparse, even 30 years later. scotch-broom is one of the few plants that thrives on ash.

[Euphony]

Soooo...I guess it's safe to say that if there's ever a massive fire that kills 50% of the world's plants, the other 50% of the planet is pretty much fucked. Lmao.

[rutix]

So, I'm in the process of scripting a story which takes place in a post apocalyptic world and I'm wondering what specifically would happen if say, half of all the worlds vegetation was gone due to global forest fires...
I know about less oxygen, more carbondioxide, the obvious change in ecology, animal habitat ect., global warming, melting ice caps... but what would life be like for humanity (remember, 50% less vegetation...) a little harder to breath? A LOT harder? What areas would be unlivable due to heat? Just how much higher would sealevel be (if any). The story is planned to take place about 50-100 years after the fires as well. I'm just trying to imagine what day to day life in that kind of environment would be like...
Does any one have any *educated* guesses to this kind of thing? http://thestaronions.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

For one thing i can say is that at the start people will have trouble with breathing but with time your body will adept. Like those people who live high in the mountains who can´t go to the bottom suddenly because their lungs adapted to the less oxygen.