Science Forums 2

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by CraigD

...Some have suggested that if the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is simply allowed to increase with no artificial effort to reduce it, natural sinks such as vegetation and the oceans will increase their rate of absorption to keep the amount at or near the present amount. However, these suggestions have not been supported by experimental evidence, and are contradicted by biological data and experiments that indicate that these sinks require more than just additional to increase their rate of absorption – basically, they would require more nutrients, which can only be supplied artificially.

Originally Posted by Freezenator

I've never heard that argument before. Who has suggested that?

I have heard this before, and I find experiments contrary to Craig's indication.

CO2 Science

Originally Posted by CO@ science

...Last of all, working with six 1.5-m-diameter flexible plastic cylinders placed in the littoral zone of the same Lake Hampen (three of which were maintained at ambient CO2 and three of which were enriched to ten times the ambient CO2 concentration), Anderson and Anderson (2006) measured the CO2-induced in situ growth response of a mixture of several species of filamentous freshwater algae (dominated by Zygnema species, but containing some Mougeotia and Spirogyra), as well as an isoetid community of macrophytes (dominated by Littorella uniflora, but containing some Myriophyllum alterniflorum and a few other species). After one full growing season (May to November), they determined that the ten-fold increase in aquatic CO2 enhanced the biomass production of Littorella uniflora by approximately 78%. Simultaneously, the biomass of filamentous algae was also enhanced by the elevated CO2: by 220% in early July, by 90% in mid-August, and by a whopping 3,750% in mid-November. ...

I see no indication here of added nutrients.