Proposal for Conference on the History of Atmospheric CO2 and its Effect on the Evolution of Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems (Workshop held in Snowbird, Utah on December 6-8, 2001)

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AbstractDEB-0129299M. Denise DearingWorkshop: Proposal for Conference on the History of Atmospheric CO2 and its Effect on the Evolution of Plants, Animals, and EcosystemsSeveral new proxies to estimate the concentration of atmospheric CO2 have been developed in the last few years so that our understanding of the history of CO2 in the atmosphere is much improved. Plant growth is strongly influenced by the concentration of atmospheric CO2, causing changes in nutrient status and the production of plant toxins, and affecting the competition between plants using different photosynthetic pathways or having different physiological strategies. Changes in availability, nutrient content, or toxicity of certain plants impacts animals at the ecosystem level. Therefore, atmospheric CO2 can be considered to be a driver of evolution at the ecosystem level. The time is now ripe for a synthesis of recent work that links the history of atmospheric CO2 to evolution at the ecosystem level. This grant will support an international symposium to address this topic.