Thread by @sfiscience

"#Thermodynamics of Far-From-Equilibrium Systems, #Biochemistry, and #Life in a Warming World"

Today's SFI Virtual Seminar by Mark Ritchie of @SyracuseU

Streaming now – follow this thread for highlights.

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#Biology #Ecology #GlobalWarming

"If we look at the temperatures at which most biological #enzymes fall apart, it's upward of 50º — but most enzymatic activity fails well below that. What's causing this decline? The Standard Model doesn't account for this."

Mark Ritchie of @SyracuseU:
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Here's why #GlobalWarming is not just going to be "great for plants":

Thermodynamic constraints on living systems mean rising temperatures affect diffusion and transport of molecules across membranes, and too much heat messes with #photosynthesis.

Mark Ritchie of @SyracuseU:

Some like it hot — but everyone has a "too hot," considering the thermodynamics of molecular transport and diffusion in living systems.

Even as rates of catalysis keep going up, entropy production eventually declines. Models by Mark Ritchie of @SyracuseU, speaking at SFI now:

Element concentration is temperature-dependent, and availability of key ingredients like N & P matter to the optimal rates of biochemical reactions — suggesting new estimates for #climate-dependent #biodiversity.

Mark Ritchie of @SyracuseU offers a counterintuitive hypothesis:

"A lot of people have noticed that as things have gotten warmer, the nutritional content of vegetables has declined (controlling for all other variables)."

Mark Ritchie (@SyracuseU) on how to make more nuanced models of biological temperature-dependence:
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