Isoprene emissions from Ice Age, present and future tropical trees: fluxes and mechanisms

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In order to understand how the Earth system works, and in particular to understand how the Earth's climate may change in the future, it is important to study the Earth's history, as well as thinking about the future. One fact that influences climate is the interaction between plants and the atmosphere. Some plants produce chemicals that can change the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and we think that the amount of these chemicals produced by plants may be affected by the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We know that during the last Ice Age, carbon dioxide concentrations were much lower than at present, and we also know that carbon dioxide concentrations are rapidly rising, so in this project we will grow plants under 'Last Ice Age' conditions of CO2 and temperature and under 'double CO2' conditions and test how much of these chemicals are produced. We will also study why CO2 has this effect on plants, and this will help us predict what might happen in the future as CO2 concentrations continue to rise.