More than one-third of all animals on Earth, from beetles to cows to elephants, depend on plant-based diets. Plants are a low-calorie food source, so it can be challenging for animals to consume enough energy to meet their needs. Now climate change is reducing the nutritional value of some foods that plant eaters rely on. Some studies suggest that this 'greening of the Earth' could partially offset rising greenhouse gas emissions by storing more carbon in plants. However, there's a trade-off: These fast-tracked plants can contain fewer nutrients per bite. I'm an ecologist and work with colleagues to examine how nutrient dilution could affect species across the food web. Our focus is on responses in plant-feeding populations, from tiny grasshoppers to giant pandas. We believe long-term changes in the nutritional value of plants may be an underappreciated cause of shrinking animal populations. These changes in plants aren't visually evident, like rising seas. Nor are they sudden and...
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