The smell of roses and lilies is not what it used to be.
According to Josep Peñuelas, a researcher at the Global Ecology Unit of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, everything seems to indicate that the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (COVB) by plants have increased by 10 percent in the last 40 years . And if the forecasts about climate change are fulfilled and the global temperature rises 2ºC in the coming decades, Peñuelas estimates that COVB emissions will increase between 30 and 40 percent. These substances, in addition to emitting odor, play a key role in reproduction, metabolism, communication with other plants, and defense against insect pests and herbivorous mammals. In short, they will help the plants to be "in constant alert" .
In addition, experts predict that climate change will lengthen the growing season of some plant species, and that many others conquer higher latitudes.
