How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Volume 4 Number 32:  8 August 2001

Temperature Record of the Week
This issue's Temperature Record of the week is from Tombstone, Arizona. Visit our U.S. Climate Data section to plot and view these data for yourself.

Current Editorial
Environmental Leadership: What is it?  Who’s got it?  And where is it taking us?  The outlook is not good for the American people, nor for the rest of the world for whom we stand as the last bastion of resistance against unfounded climate alarmist claims of
CO2-enhanced global warming and the bitter pill globalist politicians are asking us to swallow to forestall it.

Forum
A Diminished Kyoto Protocol: What made little sense before, climatologically speaking, makes even less sense now.  Dr. M. Mihkel Mathiesen, Swedish Science Attaché during the Carter Administration, presents his thoughts on the issue in our inaugural Forum article.

Subject Index Summaries
Ocean Temperatures: Are they warming or cooling?  If so, by how much?  Have they done so before?  What caused past changes?  Is their present state unusual?  Can we predict the future?  Questions, questions, questions, along with a few answers.

Plant Growth Response to CO2 and Nitrogen (Trees): Trees generally exhibit large increases in photosynthesis and growth in response to atmospheric CO2 enrichment under favorable environmental conditions.  But what happens when much-needed soil nitrogen is in low supply?  In this mini-literature-review, we search for the answer.

Current Journal Reviews
A 1240-Year Record of Arctic Temperatures: Does it support the climate alarmist claim of slow gradual cooling to near the end of the record, whereupon "unprecedented" warming occurs?  Or does it tell a different story ... like what really happened?

Historical Flooding in Norway: Contrary to climate model predictions, warmer temperatures reduce the frequency of major floods and other extreme weather events in southern Norway.

Elevated CO2 Stimulates Growth in a Shortgrass Steppe Ecosystem: In this comprehensive study of a semiarid shortgrass steppe ecosystem, the authors found that elevated CO2 increased biomass production in spite of imposed stresses of warmer temperatures and mechanical defoliation.  Furthermore, the extra CO2 accomplished this feat without affecting the existing "balance of power" between the grassland’s C3 and C4 species.

Effects of Elevated CO2 and Soil Nitrogen on Decomposition of Cotton Residue: Although elevated CO2 altered several chemical characteristics of post-harvest cotton residue in this experiment, it had little effect on reside decomposition.  However, the additional biomass produced by the aerial fertilization effect of the extra CO2 suggests there would still be an increase in the amount of carbon sequestered in the soil beneath the crop.

Effects of Elevated CO2 on Beech Wood Decomposition: Elevated CO2 decreased the concentrations of nitrogen and lignin in woody twigs of beech seedlings by 38 and 12%, respectively.  Such changes in the chemical composition of plant litter are often hypothesized to alter their decomposition rates.  In this study, however, the authors make an important discovery that has them rethinking this concept.