Life in the Hothouse

Melanie Lenhart, The University of Arizona Press, Multco, 550 L563L 2010

• Gaia Theory, the Earth adapts
• p96 Free Air Carbon Dioxide Experiment (FACE) south of Phoenix
  • Air above test plants at 550 ppm CO₂, p100 14 percent less protein in wheat
• p100 higher CO₂ improves water and nutrient use efficiency
  • stomata open more briefly to let in CO₂, less water escapes
  • Cactus wait for cool night to collect CO₂
  • FACE: 14% less protein in wheat, 10% to 20% less calcium and zinc in soybeans
• p152 Weathering turns bedrock into soil, erosion moves soil downslope
• p152 Ocean bicarbonate and carbonate holds 50x more carbon than air
• p151 Robert Berner
• p155 weathering increases in warm moist climates
  • Iceland: Weathering rates under trees 4x faster than neighboring ground
  • plants increase weathering 2x to 10x
  • plants with penetrating roots appeared 380 Mya, during Devonian, lichens have less ability

  • plants increase CO₂ in soil 10x to 100x, produce organic, humic and fulvic acids.

• p176 trees cut violent crime in half in Chicago's Ida B. Wells housing complex
• p177 Trees make neighborhoods 6℃ cooler
  • hottest neighborhoods, heat-related illness in 25% of households
• p178 redwood trees turn airborne moisture into low fog, increase moisture retention by 50%
• p179 Amazon rain forest, canopy creates inversion at 20 meters, holds in moisture
• p180 isolated populations reduce genetic diversity and adaptability
• p189 tannins in water allow deep-water creatures nearer the surface