Global Climate Change, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), and the Evolution of Life in the Palaeozoic and Early Mesozoic

直接影响我们社会的一个至关重要的问题是气候变化对我们的生命维持系统和环境的影响。但气候变化和不断增加的二氧化碳(CO2)对地球生物圈的影响还没有被很好地了解，所以从研究过去影响生物圈演变的事件中可以学到很多东西。我们的研究将为生命如何进化并在地球历史上的重大环境剧变时期幸存下来提供重要的新见解，特别是它对全球气温和大气二氧化碳重大变化的反应。这些结果将为预测未来全球变暖和二氧化碳水平迅速上升可能如何影响我们的现代生物圈提供宝贵的信息。

A critically important problem directly affecting our society is the effects of climate change on our life support systems and environment. But the impacts of climate change and increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) on the Earth's biosphere are not well understood, so much can be learnt from examining past events that have shaped its evolution. Our research will provide important new insights into how life evolved and survived periods of major environmental upheaval in Earth history, especially its responses to large shifts in global temperatures and atmospheric CO2. These outcomes will provide valuable input to help project how future global warming and rapidly increasing carbon dioxide levels will likely impact our modern biosphere.