Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 6 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5429, pp. 876 - 879
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5429.876
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Late Miocene Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations and the Expansion of C4 Grasses

Mark Pagani, *dagger Katherine H. Freeman, Michael A. Arthur

The global expansion of C4 grasslands in the late Miocene has been attributed to a large-scale decrease in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. This triggering mechanism is controversial, in part because of a lack of direct evidence for change in the partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and because other factors are also important determinants in controlling plant-type distributions. Alkenone-based pCO2 estimates for the late Miocene indicate that pCO2 increased from 14 to 9 million years ago and stabilized at preindustrial values by 9 million years ago. The estimates presented here provide no evidence for major changes in pCO2 during the late Miocene. Thus, C4 plant expansion was likely driven by additional factors, possibly a tectonically related episode of enhanced low-latitude aridity or changes in seasonal precipitation patterns on a global scale (or both).

Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16872, USA.
*   Present address: Earth Science Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Elevated CO2 effects on plant carbon, nitrogen, and water relations: six important lessons from FACE.
A. D. B. Leakey, E. A. Ainsworth, C. J. Bernacchi, A. Rogers, S. P. Long, and D. R. Ort (2009)
J. Exp. Bot. 60, 2859-2876
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Surface uplift of Tibet and Cenozoic global cooling.
C. N. Garzione (2008)
Geology 36, 1003-1004
   Full Text »    PDF »
Mid-Miocene cooling and the extinction of tundra in continental Antarctica.
A. R. Lewis, D. R. Marchant, A. C. Ashworth, L. Hedenas, S. R. Hemming, J. V. Johnson, M. J. Leng, M. L. Machlus, A. E. Newton, J. I. Raine, et al. (2008)
PNAS 105, 10676-10680
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Linkages between CO2, climate, and evolution in deep time.
D. L. Royer (2008)
PNAS 105, 407-408
   Full Text »    PDF »
Large-scale hydrological change drove the late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the Himalayan foreland and Arabian Peninsula.
Y. Huang, S. C. Clemens, W. Liu, Y. Wang, and W. L. Prell (2007)
Geology 35, 531-534
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tectonic uplift and Eastern Africa aridification..
P. Sepulchre, G. Ramstein, F. Fluteau, M. Schuster, J.-J. Tiercelin, and M. Brunet (2006)
Science 313, 1419-1423
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ancient diets indicate significant uplift of southern Tibet after ca. 7 Ma.
Y. Wang, T. Deng, and D. Biasatti (2006)
Geology 34, 309-312
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nature's green revolution: the remarkable evolutionary rise of C4 plants.
C. P Osborne and D. J Beerling (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 173-194
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Photosynthetic responses of C3 and C4 species to seasonal water variability and competition.
S. Niu, Z. Yuan, Y. Zhang, W. Liu, L. Zhang, J. Huang, and S. Wan (2005)
J. Exp. Bot. 56, 2867-2876
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Multiple expansions of C4 plant biomass in East Asia since 7 Ma coupled with strengthened monsoon circulation.
A. Zhisheng, H. Yongsong, L. Weiguo, G. Zhengtang, S. Clemens, L. Li, W. Prell, N. Youfeng, C. Yanjun, Z. Weijian, et al. (2005)
Geology 33, 705-708
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Marked Decline in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Concentrations During the Paleogene.
M. Pagani, J. C. Zachos, K. H. Freeman, B. Tipple, and S. Bohaty (2005)
Science 309, 600-603
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seawater chemistry, coccolithophore population growth, and the origin of Cretaceous chalk.
S. M. Stanley, J. B. Ries, and L. A. Hardie (2005)
Geology 33, 593-596
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Morphological evolution, ecological diversification and climate change in rodents.
S. Renaud, J. Michaux, D. N Schmidt, J.-P. Aguilar, P. Mein, and J.-C. Auffray (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 609-617
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Multiple origins of crassulacean acid metabolism and the epiphytic habit in the Neotropical family Bromeliaceae.
D. M. Crayn, K. Winter, and J. A. C. Smith (2004)
PNAS 101, 3703-3708
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Tertiary history of C4 biomass in the Great Plains, USA.
D. L. Fox and P. L. Koch (2003)
Geology 31, 809-812
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
New evidence for the lack of C4 grassland expansions during the early Pliocene at Langebaanweg, South Africa.
(2002)
Paleobiology 28, 378-388
Atmospheric CO2 as a Global Change Driver Influencing Plant-Animal Interactions.
J. R. Ehleringer, T. E. Cerling, and M. D. Dearing (2002)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 42, 424-430
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Global Phosphorus Cycle.
G. M. Filippelli (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 48, 391-425
   Full Text »    PDF »
Stable Isotope Compositions of Biological Apatite.
M. J. Kohn and T. E. Cerling (2002)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 48, 455-488
   Full Text »    PDF »
Human and Ape Molecular Clocks and Constraints on Paleontological Hypotheses.
R. L. Stauffer, A. Walker, O. A. Ryder, M. Lyons-Weiler, and S. B. Hedges (2001)
J. Hered. 92, 469-474
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Climate Change as the Dominant Control on Glacial-Interglacial Variations in C3 and C4 Plant Abundance.
Y. Huang, F. A. Street-Perrott, S. E. Metcalfe, M. Brenner, M. Moreland, and K. H. Freeman (2001)
Science 293, 1647-1651
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Isotopic Biogeochemistry of Marine Organic Carbon.
K. H. Freeman and K. H. Freeman (2001)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43, 579-605
   Full Text »    PDF »
Isotopic Evidence for Variations in the Marine Calcium Cycle Over the Cenozoic.
C. L. De La Rocha and D. J. DePaolo (2000)
Science 289, 1176-1178
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Miocene ungulates and terrestrial primary productivity: Where have all the browsers gone?.
C. M. Janis, J. Damuth, and J. M. Theodor (2000)
PNAS 97, 7899-7904
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)