Fossil Leaves Suggest Global Warming Will Be Harder To Fight

Scientists have developed a new method of knowing the how much CO₂ is present in fossilized leaves. This new method claims that it can go deeper into the past and with more certainty

At present, as Science Mag reported, the level of CO₂ in the atmosphere is expected to go up because of the human consumption of fossil fuel. Increased level of atmospheric CO₂ also contribute to global warming. But it is not the first time that carbon dioxide has risen. Scientists found out that the CO₂ level on Earth's atmosphere during the ancient years has swung dramatically; it will rise and drop like a roller coaster in repeated bouts of climate change. Dana Royer, a paleoclimatologist at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, stated, "Each little slice in Earth's past is a replicated experiment. It helps us think about where we may be headed in the near future."

Also, as reported in Latinos Health,David Beerling, a biogeochemist at the University of Sheffield in United Kingdom, stated that the new fossil leaf gas exchange technique is the most promising and probably the best tool they've got. Jennifer McElwain, a paleobotanist at the University College Dublin also stated that it is going to be a powerful method. The technique is said to have already been solving ancient climate puzzles and have delivered some revelations about the future.

Peter Franks, a plant physiologist at the University of Sydney in Australia, and his colleagues set out to improve the leaf gas exchange technique. It relies on two inputs: the calculation of stomatal density and the analysis of organic residue in the fossil. These two inputs contribute in the reading of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration.

As of now, since the technique is still new, its message is far from definitive. But Franks is confident that the leaf gas exchange technique will do well in the future.