The Positive Effects of Ocean Acidification and Warming on the Mercury Contamination of an Atlantic Fish (31 August 2018)
The human health implications of consuming A. regius under a scenario of combined ocean acidification and warming are much greater than those under a scenario of warming alone...
A 500-Year Precipitation Reconstruction for Eastern China (30 August 2018)
It appears that there is nothing unusual, unnatural or unprecedented about the more recent portion of this record, as anomalies during the 20th and 21st century are all well within their long-term range. And that suggests there has been no discernible impact of rising atmospheric CO2 (i.e., global warming) on this record. Instead, changes in ENSO and the PDO seem fully capable of explaining its periodic fluctuations, suggesting that natural climate change is the predominant driver of precipitation fluctuations there...
Population Adaptation to Heat Waves, But Not Cold Spells, in Korea and Japan (29 August 2018)
Over the past three decades the relative risk and attributable fraction of deaths due to heat waves have declined in these two countries, whereas the opposite has occurred for cold spells...
Plant Growth Database (28 August 2018)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Chinese Woad (Li et al., 2017). To access the entire database, click here.
More Support for a Global Warming Hiatus (27 August 2018)
New research from the Arctic reveals the existence of the hiatus, which has lagged a few years behind that observed in most global data sets...
A Century-Long Proxy of Ocean Acidification and Coral Calcification on the Belize Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (24 August 2018)
What ocean acidification alarmists assume should have happened, did not occur -- there was no detrimental effect of ocean acidification on calcification of the tropical coral S. siderea...
Modern Growth Trends of an Old-Growth Larch Forest in the Swiss Alps (23 August 2018)
Elevated atmospheric CO2 and rising temperatures are not the environmental boogeymen that climate alarmists make them out to be. Rather, as illustrated by the old-growth forest trees examined in this study, their increases are a welcomed ecological benefit!...
A Northern Atlantic Krill Species Demonstrates Tolerance to Ocean Acidification (22 August 2018)
Even at the highest pCO2 seawater projection levels (1500 µatm), Thysanoessa inermis demonstrates no impact of ocean acidification on its survival, growth, moulting, oxygen consumption or feeding rate...
Plant Growth Database (21 August 2018)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Purging Nut (Kumar et al., 2017). To access the entire database, click here.
Behavioral Plasticity in Bird Nest Building at Different Temperatures (20 August 2018)
The results of this study highlight a well-defined degree of plasticity in nest building behavior such that the zebra finch constructs nests with greater mass and material at lower temperatures to better insulate their eggs and hatchlings than they do at higher temperatures. Such findings suggest, in their words, that "nest building behavior is one route through which birds can respond to a changing climate and modify the microclimate of their nest in line with projected changes in ambient [temperature] conditions"...
The Impact of Ocean Acidification and Warming on an Intertidal Rock Pool Community (17 August 2018)
Two three-month-long experiments revealed that the studied rock pool assemblages were "relatively robust to changes in temperature and pCO2"...
An 810-Year Summer Temperature Reconstruction in Scotland (16 August 2018)
In placing the most recent warming of the instrumental period in context, the authors of this study write that it "is likely not unique when compared to multi-decadal warm periods observed in the 1300s, 1500s and 1730s." And that fact suggests there is nothing unusual, unnatural or unprecedented about the current warmth of Scotland, which further suggests that earth's rising atmospheric CO2 concentration may very well have had no measurable impact on temperature trends there!...
A Test of the Progressive Nitrogen Limitation Hypothesis Following 10 Years of CO2 Enrichment in an Oak Ecosystem (15 August 2018)
According to the eight scientists who conducted this intriguing new study, consistent with their initial hypothesis, elevated CO2 "increased photosynthesis and microbial biomass, which accelerated soil N cycling and supplied additional N for plant growth," revealing that "progressive N limitation for plant growth has not happened in this oak dominated system after 10 years of elevated CO2 treatment"...
Plant Growth Database (14 August 2018)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Wheat (Asif et al., 2017). To access the entire database, click here.
The Relationship Between Diurnal Temperature Range and Mortality in Hefei, China (13 August 2018)
As the diurnal temperature range (DTR) falls, so too does the relative risk of non-accidental, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. And since the DTR has been falling in recent decades, it would appear that global climate change is saving lives!...
Another Example of Corals Being Capable of Biologically-Mediating their Calcification to Overcome Ocean Acidification (10 August 2018)
As concluded by the authors of this new paper, "although the role of calcium concentrations within the coral calcifying fluid in driving calcification has often been neglected, increasing [it] may be a key mechanism enabling more resistant corals to cope with ocean acidification and continue to build calcium carbonate skeletons in a high-CO2 world." And that great news suggests that horror stories of corals being driven to extinction because of ocean acidification are far from certain -- if they contain any truth at all!...
A Global Warming Hiatus in Northeast China (9 August 2018)
Over the past two decades temperatures in this region have not only failed to warm as the climate models project they should, they have cooled. And that cooling, if it continues, poses a significant threat to agricultural production in this region...
Plant Growth Database (7 August 2018)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Soybean (Li et al., 2017). To access the entire database, click here.
Elevated Temperature Mitigates the Negative Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Porites Calcification (6 August 2018)
According to the authors of this study, at high seawater pCO2, a 3°C increase in temperature substantially mitigates the effects of ocean acidification on calcification: "at 25°C the mean Porites spp. calcification rate at seawater pCO2 750 µatm is ~40% of the rate observed at 180 µatm. In contrast, at 28°C this figure is ~100%"...
The Combined Impacts of Elevated CO2, Salinity and Vapor Pressure Deficit on Cucumber (5 August 2018)
Elevated CO2 increased plant photosynthesis and growth, fully ameliorating the negative impacts of vapor pressure deficit and salinity on these two parameters. Thus, in the future, if the air gets a little dryer or the soils a little saltier, as long as the air's CO2 content continues to rise, cucumber growth should be maintained or increase relative to that of today...
The Resilience of a Caribbean Inshore Patch Reef to Temperature Stress (3 August 2018)
Despite experiencing a more severe thermal stress event in 2015, the degree and severity of coral bleaching among 4234 colonies on this Caribbean reef was much less than that observed following a bleaching event in 2014...
A 230-Year Record of Drought in Kazakhstan (2 August 2018)
One characteristic of this reconstruction is rather obvious: there is nothing unusual, unnatural or unprecedented about the drought record of the past few decades, except perhaps that it appears to be less variable and less severe. Thus, if there has been a CO2-induced influence on the drought record, it surely has been a favorable one...
The Effects of CO2 and Temperature on Rice Yields (1 August 2018)
Who would imagine that a small, 60 ppm, increase in atmospheric CO2 would be sufficient to significantly boost rice yields and ameliorate growth-reducing effects of elevated temperature?...