How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

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Pumped Up Down Under: Australian Lupins Like CO2
Reference
Palta, J.A. and Ludwig, C.  2000.  Elevated CO2 during pod filling increased seed yield but not harvest index in indeterminate narrow-leafed lupin.  Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 51: 279-286.

What was done
Narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius L. cv. Merrit) plants were grown in 15-cm diameter pots filled with soil in an evaporatively cooled glasshouse in Perth, Western Australia in chambers with Mylar-film walls maintained at either 355 or 700 ppm CO2, after which a number of plant parameters were measured.

What was learned
The extra CO2 increased the final number of pods and the number of pods that filled large seeds, reduced to zero the number of pods that had small seeds, and reduced the number of pods with unfilled seeds from 16 to 1 pod per plant, while it also increased pod set and dry matter accumulation on the developing branches.  These improvements resulted in 47 to 56% increases in dry matter per plant, which led to increases of 44 to 66% in seed yield per plant.

What it means
As the air's CO2 concentration continues to rise in the years ahead, it should have a profoundly positive effect on the production of narrow-leafed lupin, which is an important grain legume in southern Australia.