A systems analysis of the physiological and geochemical processes involved was presented, …

• Abstract
• A Systems Analysis of Plants and CO2
• Paleozoic Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
• End-Triassic Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
• Conclusions
• References
• Figures

Biology Articles » Evolutionary Biology » Feedbacks and the coevolution of plants and atmospheric CO2

Abstract

- Feedbacks and the coevolution of plants and atmospheric CO2

GEOLOGY

Feedbacks and the coevolution of plants and atmospheric CO₂

David J. Beerling ^*, , and Robert A. Berner 

^*Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom; and Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109

Contributed by Robert A. Berner, November 23, 2004

The coupled evolution of land plants, CO₂, and climate over the last half billion years has maintained atmospheric CO₂ concentrations within finite limits, indicating the involvement of a complex network of geophysiological feedbacks. But insight into this important regulatory network is extremely limited. Here we present a systems analysis of the physiological and geochemical processes involved, identifying new positive and negative feedbacks between plants and CO₂ on geological time scales. Positive feedbacks accelerated falling CO₂ concentrations during the evolution and diversification of terrestrial ecosystems in the Paleozoic and enhanced rising CO₂ concentrations across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary during flood basalt eruptions. The existence of positive feedbacks reveals the unexpected destabilizing influence of the biota in climate regulation that led to environmental modifications accelerating rates of terrestrial plant and animal evolution in the Paleozoic.

carbon dioxide | climate | land plant evolution | stomatal density | weathering

Source: PNAS, February 1, 2005, vol. 102 no. 5, 1302-1305.