How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Getting Better at Taking the Heat
Reference
Davis, R.E., Knappenberger, P.C., Novicoff, W.M. and Michaels, P.J.  2002.  Decadal changes in heat-related human mortality in the eastern United States.  Climate Research 22: 175-184.

What was done
The authors determined changes in the impact of high temperatures on daily mortality rates over a period of four decades in six major metropolitan areas along a north-south transect in the eastern United States.

What was learned
There were few significant weather-mortality relationships for any decade or demographic group in the three southernmost cities examined, where warmer weather is commonplace.  In the three northernmost cities, however, there were statistically significant declines in population-adjusted mortality rates during hot and humid weather between 1964 and 1994.

What it means
In the words of the authors, "these statistically significant reductions in hot-weather mortality rates suggest that the populace in cities that were weather-sensitive in the 1960s and 1970s have become less impacted by extreme conditions over time because of improved medical care, increased access to air conditioning, and biophysical and infrastructural adaptions."  They further note that "this analysis counters the paradigm of increased heat-related mortality rates in the eastern US predicted to result from future climate warming."


Reviewed 6 November 2002