Physiological Ecology of Mesozoic Polar Forests in a High CO₂ Environment

Mesozoic polar forests

Between 250 and 50 million years ago, Earth's atmosphere contained more CO₂ than at present, while polar regions were largely ice-free but extensively forested. These ancient forests therefore experienced extreme seasonal variations in light availability under a CO₂-rich atmosphere. Beerling and Osborne (pp. 329-339) address the nature of the interaction and its consequences for aspects of the carbon balance of trees taking a novel experimental approach.