Editorial
Tropical Forest "Weirdness" in Costa Rica: The authors of a controversial study of less than 2% of the tree species in a single patch of wooded land in Costa Rica suggest that the growth response of earth's tropical forests to rising temperature is such that it produces a large positive feedback (release of CO2 to the atmosphere) that "in future years would accelerate global warming."  Do you believe them?

Subject Index Summaries
Decadal-Scale Climate Oscillations (Arctic): An understanding of these natural phenomena is essential to our ability to detect signs of possible anthropogenic CO2-induced global warming in earth's polar regions.

FACE Experiments (Trees -- Aspen): There have now been sufficient FACE studies of aspen trees conducted to get a good feel for how they will likely respond to simultaneous increases in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 (which produces positive effects) and ozone (which produces negative effects) in the years ahead.

Journal Reviews
Extreme Precipitation Trends of North America: Climate models suggest that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations will result in an increase of heavy precipitation as a consequence of greenhouse gas-induced global warming.  Do North American data of the last century confirm or refute this prediction?

Super-Cyclone Frequency and Intensity "Down Under": Will bigger and stronger tropical cyclones vex Australia if post-Little Ice Age warming continues for a few more years?

Effects of Elevated CO2 on the Growth and Physiology of Peach Seedlings: It is a well known fact that most woody plants respond in a very positive manner to atmospheric CO2 enrichment.  Will peach trees hold true to form?  A study conducted by an Italian scientist at the University of Edinburgh provides some answers.

Elevated CO2 Influences C3/C4 Plant Growth Interactions: How do C3 and C4 plants respond to atmospheric CO2 enrichment when they are grown together in mixtures?  Do they help or hurt each other?  A FACE study of cotton and sorghum attempts to provide some answers.

At Long Last … A Plant That May Possibly Be Harmed by Elevated CO2: Once in a blue moon, there is an experiment that appears to indicate that a plant may be hurt, instead of helped, by atmospheric CO2 enrichment; and the authors of this paper suggest that the pseudoviviparous alpine meadow grass they studied is one of those plants.