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Global biodiversity and the ancient carbon cycle
1Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. dan@segovia.mit.edu
Summary
Paleontological data reveals that land plant and marine animal diversity significantly correlates with carbon isotope fractionation over 400 million years. This suggests biodiversity changes indirectly estimate ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.
Area of Science:
- Paleontology
- Geochemistry
- Climate Science
Background:
- Marine animal and land plant diversity data span approximately 400 million years.
- Stable carbon isotope fractionation provides a concurrent measure over the same period.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the correlation between paleontological diversity and carbon isotope fractionation.
- To infer long-term atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) level fluctuations using biodiversity data.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of paleontological records for marine animal and land plant diversity.
- Measurement of stable carbon isotope fractionation.
- Modeling carbon flux from atmosphere to rocks and nutrient flux from continents to oceans.
Main Results:
- Significant correlations were found between biodiversity and carbon isotope fractionation.
- Increasing plant diversity correlated with decreasing atmospheric CO2 levels.
- Increasing marine animal diversity correlated with increased nutrient availability.
Conclusions:
- Biodiversity changes, particularly land plant diversification, significantly impacted atmospheric CO2 levels.
- The paleontological record of biodiversity offers an indirect method for estimating ancient CO2 fluctuations.
- Long-term CO2 fluctuations were primarily driven by biological and fluid carbon reservoirs.