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Science 22 June 2001:
Vol. 292. no. 5525, pp. 2310 - 2313
DOI: 10.1126/science.292.5525.2310
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Reports

Paleobotanical Evidence for Near Present-Day Levels of Atmospheric CO2 During Part of the Tertiary

Dana L. Royer,1*dagger Scott L. Wing,2 David J. Beerling,3 David W. Jolley,4 Paul L. Koch,5 Leo J. Hickey,1 Robert A. Berner1

Understanding the link between the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) and Earth's temperature underpins much of paleoclimatology and our predictions of future global warming. Here, we use the inverse relationship between leaf stomatal indices and the partial pressure of CO2 in modern Ginkgo biloba and Metasequoia glyptostroboides to develop a CO2 reconstruction based on fossil Ginkgo and Metasequoia cuticles for the middle Paleocene to early Eocene and middle Miocene. Our reconstruction indicates that CO2 remained between 300 and 450 parts per million by volume for these intervals with the exception of a single high estimate near the Paleocene/Eocene boundary. These results suggest that factors in addition to CO2 are required to explain these past intervals of global warmth.

1 Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, Post Office Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA.
2 Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
3 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
4 Centre for Palynology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK.
5 Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dana.royer{at}yale.edu

dagger    Address as of 1 August 2001 will be Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.

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