The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History

The Emerald Planet: How Plants Changed Earth's History

Global warming is contentious and difficult to measure, even among the majority of scientists who agree that it is taking place. Will temperatures rise by 2ºC or 8ºC over the next hundred years? Will sea levels rise by 2 or 30 feet? The only way that we can accurately answer questions like these is by looking into the distant past, for a comparison with the world long before the rise of mankind. We may currently believe that atmospheric shifts, like global warming, result from our impact on the planet, but the earth's atmosphere has been dramatically shifting since its creation. This book reveals the crucial role that plants have played in determining atmospheric change - and hence the conditions on the planet we know today. Along the way a number of fascinating puzzles arise: Why did plants evolve leaves? When and how did forests once grow on Antarctica? How did prehistoric insects manage to grow so large? The answers show the extraordinary amount plants can tell us about the history of the planet -- something that has often been overlooked amongst the preoccuputations with dinosaur bones and animal fossils. David Beerling's surprising conclusions are teased out from various lines of scientific enquiry, with evidence being brought to bear from fossil plants and animals, computer models of the atmosphere, and experimental studies. Intimately bound up with the narrative describing the dynamic evolution of climate and life through Earth's history, we find Victorian fossil hunters, intrepid polar explorers and pioneering chemists, alongside wallowing hippos, belching volcanoes, and restless landmasses. "David Beerling is passionate about plants and their roles in shaping the Earth, and this is clearly evident in his book The Emerald Planet . An interesting and enjoyable read."--The Astrobiology Society of Britian "It would be a useful addition to a biological library, or to one that serves researchers in atmospheric science."-- E-STREAMS " The Emerald Planet is beautifully written, fresh and provocative. Beerling is a good teacher, using imaginative analogies to explain complex material that might otherwise seem dry. His book will appeal to amateurs and professionals alike-everyone interested in how plants have changed and will continue to change out world."--Jennifer McElwain, American Scientist "Throughout the book, Beerling uses evidence from the plant fossil record (mutant spores, tree stumps from the Artic and Antartic, growth rings) to reconstruct past climates and to help explain mass extinctions. Too often this evidence has been disregarded, but Beerling gives it its due, and then some."-- BioScience "Summing up: Highly recommended."-- CHOICE "Beerling introduces us to the scientists of the past and their contributions to today's hypotheses.His presentations successfully convey the incremental nature of science demonstrating that new hypotheses often emerge from the combination of observation and syntheses of pervious work."-- BioScience "The result is a book that is fascinating and exciting to read."-- American Scientist "An excellent reference for students, educators, and research students, this techincal book provides a summary of theories on the influence of plant life on earth and brings to attention the recent discoveries that lead to unraveling its mysteries." -- Current Books on Gardening and Botany David Beerling is Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences University of Sheffield. Before this he held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, where his work on the evolution of life and the physical environment was recognized by the award of a prestigious Philip Leverhulme Prize in earth sciences (2001). He has published over 100 papers in international scientific journals and is co-author of Vegetation and the Global Carbon Cycle: Modelling the first 400 million years (CUP, 2001).