How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

Click to locate material archived on our website by topic


Volume 7 Number 40:  6 October 2004

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

Editorial
Coral Reef Decline: No Nagging Doubts About What Needs to Be Done to Stop It: We review some concerns raised by several coral reef researchers about the conclusions of a paper we discussed in last week's Editorial.

Subject Index Summaries
Little Medieval Warm Period: In addition to the voluminous evidence that continues to accumulate for the occurrence of higher-than-present temperatures during the Roman Warm Period of 2000 years ago and the Medieval Warm Period of 1000 years ago, a growing body of evidence is beginning to indicate there was a period of time some 500 years ago when temperatures were also warmer than they are currently.

Long-Term Studies (Woody Plants: Sweetgum): Do mature sweetgum trees respond to atmospheric CO2 enrichment as well as seedlings?  And if they do, can they maintain their initial growth response as time progresses, or do the trees eventually acclimate and exhibit a down-regulation of photosynthesis that gradually erodes the growth-promoting power of the elevated CO2?

Journal Reviews
Reconstructing the Climatic History of the Northern Hemisphere Over the Past Millennium from Proxy Temperature Data: Problems with Mann et al.'s Methodology: The case against the infamous "hockeystick" temperature history of Mann et al. grows ever stronger.

Looking For Hockeysticks in Central Sweden …: … but coming up empty-handed.

Ten Years of Free-Air CO2 Enrichment of Perennial Ryegrass: Were the results of year ten much different from those of year one?  And was the world-record ten years' duration for an experiment of this type sufficient to reveal what is needed to accurately predict the long-term consequences of the ongoing rise in the air's CO2 concentration for generations to come?

Water Use Efficiency of Sorghum in a CO2-Enriched World of the Future: How would it influenced by possible reductions in soil water availability?

CO2 Effects on the Palatability of Birch Seedlings to Mammalian Herbivores: Do tender branch tissues and the bark of young tree trunks become more or less appealing to North American rabbits and Eurasian hares as the air's CO2 concentration continues to rise?  Or do they remain unaffected?