🚀 go-pugleaf

I received a copy of the "publication" that David Inouye
refers to (by Robinson, Baliunas, Soon and Robinson) as a bulk
mailing last week.  There is zero indication of peer review
or of the acceptance of this review by any recognized
publication outlet.  Briefly, the paper reviews the
literature on plant responses to CO2 increase (in a highly
selective fashion, it seems to me) and concludes that
atmospheric increases in CO2 derived from fossil fuel use,
rather than being a problem that deserves the attention
of the international community, are actually a great boon
to humankind, acting to increase plant productivity (eg
agriculture) and to provide a more favorable climate for
human activities.
   I have encountered this same optimism in a very few
papers coming from the agricultural research community.
While this isn't exactly my area of expertise, the points
that these folks seem to be missing are:
-- many experiments with plant growth under increased CO2
find eventual strong limitation of plant growth by nutrients
OR eventual decline of carbon fixation rates, or both;
-- while climate change arising from an enhanced greenhouse
effect might lead to amelioration of harsh conditions in
some places, it would / could be pretty disruptive in other
places -- and just the process of adapting to a climatic
change (whether for the bad or not) can be expensive for
society, agriculture, etc.;
-- increases in CO2 concentrations are likely to be accompanied
by alterations of the hydrologic regime, and plant growth experiments
suggest some surprising interactions of CO2 and water availability.
That is, it's too early to say that CO2 "fertilization" will be
an unmixed blessing even for crop productivity.

Like David I'd be interested in hearing more about the science
behind this recent mailing --

Laura Huenneke

-----------------------------------------------------
Laura F. Huenneke        phone: (505) 646-3933
Dept. of Biology        fax:   (505) 646-5665
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM  88003        email:  LHuennek@nmsu.edu