Geobiological constraints on Earth system sensitivity to CO₂ during the Cretaceous and Cenozoic

Paradigms of actinorhizal symbiosis under the regime of global climatic changes: New insights and perspectives

Nitrogen occurs as inert and inaccessible dinitrogen gaseous form (N₂ ) in the atmosphere. Biological nitrogen fixation is a chief process that makes this dinitrogen (N₂ ) accessible and bioavailable in the form of ammonium (NH₄ ⁺ ) ions. The key organisms to fix nitrogen are certain prokaryotes, called diazotrophs either in the free-living form or establishing significant mutual relationships with a variety of plants. On such examples is ~95-100 MY old incomparable symbiosis between dicotyledonous trees and a unique actinobacterial diazotroph in diverse ecosystems. In this association, the root of the certain dicotyledonous tree (~25 genera and 225 species) belonging to three different taxonomic orders, Fagales, Cucurbitales, and Rosales (FaCuRo) known as actinorhizal trees can host a diazotroph, Frankia of order Frankiales. Frankia is gram-positive, branched, filamentous, sporulating, and free-living soil actinobacterium. It resides in the specialized, multilobed, and coralloid organs (lateral roots but without caps), the root nodules of actinorhizal tress. This review aims to provide systematic information on the distribution and the phylogenetic diversity of hosts from FaCuRo and their micro-endosymbionts (Frankia spp.), colonization mechanisms, and signaling pathways. We also aim to provide details on developmental and physiological imperatives for gene regulation and functional genomics of symbiosis, phenomenal restoration ecology, influences of contemporary global climatic changes, and anthropogenic impacts on plant-Frankia interactions for the functioning of ecosystems and the biosphere.

Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction

We present a quantitative test of end-Cretaceous extinction scenarios and how these would have affected dinosaur habitats. Combining climate and ecological modeling tools, we demonstrate a substantial detrimental effect on dinosaur habitats caused by an impact winter scenario triggered by the Chicxulub asteroid. We were not able to obtain such an extinction state with several modeling scenarios of Deccan volcanism. We further show that the concomitant prolonged eruption of the Deccan traps might have acted as an ameliorating agent, buffering the negative effects on climate and global ecosystems that the asteroid impact produced at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary.

The Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction, 66 Ma, included the demise of non-avian dinosaurs. Intense debate has focused on the relative roles of Deccan volcanism and the Chicxulub asteroid impact as kill mechanisms for this event. Here, we combine fossil-occurrence data with paleoclimate and habitat suitability models to evaluate dinosaur habitability in the wake of various asteroid impact and Deccan volcanism scenarios. Asteroid impact models generate a prolonged cold winter that suppresses potential global dinosaur habitats. Conversely, long-term forcing from Deccan volcanism (carbon dioxide [CO₂]-induced warming) leads to increased habitat suitability. Short-term (aerosol cooling) volcanism still allows equatorial habitability. These results support the asteroid impact as the main driver of the non-avian dinosaur extinction. By contrast, induced warming from volcanism mitigated the most extreme effects of asteroid impact, potentially reducing the extinction severity.

Intrinsic Climate Cooling

Lower heating of our planet by the young Sun was compensated by higher warming from factors such as greater greenhouse gas concentrations or reduced albedo. Earth's climate history has therefore been one of increasing solar forcing through time roughly cancelled by decreasing forcing due to geological and biological processes. The current generation of coupled carbon-cycle/climate models suggests that decreasing geological forcing-due to falling rates of outgassing, continent growth, and plate spreading-can account for much of Earth's climate history. If Earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of red dwarfs experience a similar history of decreasing geological forcing, their climates will cool at a faster rate than is compensated for by the relatively slow evolution of their smaller stars. As a result, they will become globally glaciated within a few billion years. The results of this paper therefore suggest that coupled carbon-cycle/climate models account, parsimoniously, for both the faint young Sun paradox and the puzzle of why Earth orbits a relatively rare and short-lived star-type.

Constraining climate sensitivity and continental versus seafloor weathering using an inverse geological carbon cycle model

The relative influences of tectonics, continental weathering and seafloor weathering in controlling the geological carbon cycle are unknown. Here we develop a new carbon cycle model that explicitly captures the kinetics of seafloor weathering to investigate carbon fluxes and the evolution of atmospheric CO₂ and ocean pH since 100 Myr ago. We compare model outputs to proxy data, and rigorously constrain model parameters using Bayesian inverse methods. Assuming our forward model is an accurate representation of the carbon cycle, to fit proxies the temperature dependence of continental weathering must be weaker than commonly assumed. We find that 15–31 °C (1σ) surface warming is required to double the continental weathering flux, versus 3–10 °C in previous work. In addition, continental weatherability has increased 1.7–3.3 times since 100 Myr ago, demanding explanation by uplift and sea-level changes. The average Earth system climate sensitivity is  K (1σ) per CO₂ doubling, which is notably higher than fast-feedback estimates. These conclusions are robust to assumptions about outgassing, modern fluxes and seafloor weathering kinetics.

The influence of tectonics, continental weathering, and seafloor weathering in the geological carbon cycle remain unclear. Here, the authors develop a new carbon cycle model and, through comparison with proxy data, critically evaluate the influence of these components on carbon fluxes since 100 Ma.

Cenozoic mean greenhouse gases and temperature changes with reference to the Anthropocene

Cenozoic greenhouse gases (GHG) variations and warming periods underscore the extreme rates of current climate change, with major implications for the adaptability and survivability of terrestrial and marine habitats. Current rise rate of greenhouse gases, reaching 3.3 ppm CO₂ per year during March 2015-2016, is the fastest recorded since the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Event (PETM) when carbon release to the atmosphere was about an order of magnitude less than at present. The ice core evidence of concentration of (GHG) and temperatures in the atmosphere/ocean/cryosphere system over the last 740 kyr suggests that the rate of rise in GHG over the last ~260 years, CO₂ rates rising from 0.94 ppm yr^-1 in 1959 (315.97 ppm) to 1.62 ppm yr^-1 in 2000 (369.52 ppm) to 3.05 ppm yr^-1 in 2015 (400.83 ppm), constitutes a unique spike in the history of the atmosphere. The reliance of pre-740 kyr paleoclimate estimates on multiple proxies, including benthic and plankton fossils, fossil plants, residual organic matter, major and trace elements in fossils, sediments and soils, place limits on the resolution of pre-upper Pleistocene paleoclimate estimates, rendering it likely recorded mean Cenozoic paleoclimate trends may conceal abrupt short-term climate fluctuations. However, as exemplified by the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and earlier GHG and temperature spikes associated with major volcanic and asteroid impact events, the long-term residence time of CO₂ in the atmosphere extends the signatures of abrupt warming events to within detection limits of multiple paleoproxies. The mean post-1750 temperature rise rate (approximately ~0.0034 °C per yr, or ~0.008 °C per yr where temperature is not masked by sulfur aerosols) exceeds those of the PETM (approximately ~0.0008-0.0015 °C per yr) by an order of magnitude and mean glacial termination warming rates (last glacial termination [LGT] ~ 0.00039; Eemian ~0.0004 °C per yr) by near to an order of magnitude. Consistent with previous interglacial peaks an increasing likelihood of collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Circulation is threatening a severe stadial event.

Insect herbivory fluctuations through geological time

Arthropods and land plants are the major macroscopic sources of biodiversity on the planet. Knowledge of the organization and specialization of plant-herbivore interactions, such as their roles in food webs is important for understanding the processes for maintaining biodiversity. A limited number of studies have examined herbivory through geological time. The most have analyzed localities from one restricted interval within a geological period, or a time transition such as the Paleocene-Eocene boundary interval. In the present study, we analyzed the frequency of herbivory and density of damage type (DT) from the Middle Devonian to the early Miocene. The data were compiled from literature sources and focused on studies that describe occurrences of leaves with DTs indicating herbivore consumption as a proportion of the total number of leaves analyzed. The data were standardized based on the DT categories in the Damage Type Guide, and the age of each locality was updated based on the most recent geochronological standard and expressed in millions of years. Temperature and geological age were the best descriptors of the variation in herbivory frequency, which tended to increase at higher temperatures. Two models were equivalent to explain DT density: the interaction between CO₂ levels and geological age, and O₂ levels and geological age had the same predictive power. The density of DT tended to increase with higher content of atmospheric CO₂ and O₂ compared to modern values. The frequency of herbivory and the density of DTs appear to be influenced by long-term atmospheric variables.

A better-ventilated ocean triggered by Late Cretaceous changes in continental configuration

Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) are large-scale events of oxygen depletion in the deep ocean that happened during pre-Cenozoic periods of extreme warmth. Here, to assess the role of major continental configuration changes occurring during the Late Cretaceous on oceanic circulation modes, which in turn influence the oxygenation level of the deep ocean, we use a coupled ocean atmosphere climate model. We simulate ocean dynamics during two different time slices and compare these with existing neodymium isotope data (ɛ_Nd). Although deep-water production in the North Pacific is continuous, the simulations at 94 and 71 Ma show a shift in southern deep-water production sites from South Pacific to South Atlantic and Indian Ocean locations. Our modelling results support the hypothesis that an intensification of southern Atlantic deep-water production and a reversal of deep-water fluxes through the Caribbean Seaway were the main causes of the decrease in ɛ_Nd values recorded in the Atlantic and Indian deep waters during the Late Cretaceous.

In the Earth's history, the timing of oceanic large-scale events of oxygen depletion remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that palaeogeography was a major preconditioning factor during the Cretaceous, implying that thresholds to shift toward a global anoxia are likely to be much higher at present.

Large-scale phylogenetic analyses reveal multiple gains of actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing symbioses in angiosperms associated with climate change

Nitrogen is fundamental to all life forms and is also one of the most limiting of nutrients for plant growth. Several clades of angiosperms have developed symbiotic relationships with actinorhizal bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen and increase access to this nutrient. However, the evolutionary patterns of actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing symbioses remain unclear to date. Furthermore the underlying environmental pressures that led to the gain of symbiotic actinorhizal nitrogen fixation have never been investigated. Here, we present the most comprehensive genus-level phylogenetic analysis of the nitrogen-fixing angiosperms based on three plastid loci. We found that actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing species are distributed in nine distinct lineages. By dating the branching events, we determined that seven actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing lineages originated during the Late Cretaceous, and two more emerged during the Eocene. We put forward a hypothesis that multiple gains of actinorhizal nitrogen-fixing symbioses in angiosperms may have been associated with increased global temperatures and high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during these two time periods, as well as the availability of open habitats with high light conditions. Our nearly complete genus-level time-tree for the nitrogen-fixing clade is a significant advance in understanding the evolutionary and ecological background of this important symbiosis between plants and bacteria.

Photosynthetic diversity meets biodiversity: the C4 plant example

Physiological diversification reflects adaptation for specific environmental challenges. As the major physiological process that provides plants with carbon and energy, photosynthesis is under strong evolutionary selection that gives rise to variability in nearly all parts of the photosynthetic apparatus. Here, we discuss how plants, notably those using C4 photosynthesis, diversified in response to environmental challenges imposed by declining atmospheric CO2 content in recent geological time. This reduction in atmospheric CO2 increases the rate of photorespiration and reduces photosynthetic efficiency. While plants have evolved numerous mechanisms to compensate for low CO2, the most effective are the carbon concentration mechanisms of C4, C2, and CAM photosynthesis; and the pumping of dissolved inorganic carbon, mainly by algae. C4 photosynthesis enables plants to dominate warm, dry and often salinized habitats, and to colonize areas that are too stressful for most plant groups. Because C4 lineages generally lack arborescence, they cannot form forests. Hence, where they predominate, C4 plants create a different landscape than would occur if C3 plants were to predominate. These landscapes (mostly grasslands and savannahs) present unique selection environments that promoted the diversification of animal guilds able to graze upon the C4 vegetation. Thus, the rise of C4 photosynthesis has made a significant contribution to the origin of numerous biomes in the modern biosphere.

Evidence for global cooling in the Late Cretaceous

The Late Cretaceous ‘greenhouse’ world witnessed a transition from one of the warmest climates of the past 140 million years to cooler conditions, yet still without significant continental ice. Low-latitude sea surface temperature (SST) records are a vital piece of evidence required to unravel the cause of Late Cretaceous cooling, but high-quality data remain illusive. Here, using an organic geochemical palaeothermometer (TEX₈₆), we present a record of SSTs for the Campanian–Maastrichtian interval (~83–66 Ma) from hemipelagic sediments deposited on the western North Atlantic shelf. Our record reveals that the North Atlantic at 35 °N was relatively warm in the earliest Campanian, with maximum SSTs of ~35 °C, but experienced significant cooling (~7 °C) after this to <~28 °C during the Maastrichtian. The overall stratigraphic trend is remarkably similar to records of high-latitude SSTs and bottom-water temperatures, suggesting that the cooling pattern was global rather than regional and, therefore, driven predominantly by declining atmospheric pCO₂ levels.

The Late Cretaceous experienced significant cooling, yet a lack of low-latitude records mean the regional extent of this cooling is poorly constrained. Linnert et al. present a TEX₈₆ sea surface temperature record from a palaeolatitude of ~35 °N and show that Late Cretaceous cooling was global in nature.

Climate sensitivity, sea level and atmospheric carbon dioxide

Cenozoic temperature, sea level and CO2 covariations provide insights into climate sensitivity to external forcings and sea-level sensitivity to climate change. Climate sensitivity depends on the initial climate state, but potentially can be accurately inferred from precise palaeoclimate data. Pleistocene climate oscillations yield a fast-feedback climate sensitivity of 3±1(°)C for a 4 W m(-2) CO2 forcing if Holocene warming relative to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is used as calibration, but the error (uncertainty) is substantial and partly subjective because of poorly defined LGM global temperature and possible human influences in the Holocene. Glacial-to-interglacial climate change leading to the prior (Eemian) interglacial is less ambiguous and implies a sensitivity in the upper part of the above range, i.e. 3-4(°)C for a 4 W m(-2) CO2 forcing. Slow feedbacks, especially change of ice sheet size and atmospheric CO2, amplify the total Earth system sensitivity by an amount that depends on the time scale considered. Ice sheet response time is poorly defined, but we show that the slow response and hysteresis in prevailing ice sheet models are exaggerated. We use a global model, simplified to essential processes, to investigate state dependence of climate sensitivity, finding an increased sensitivity towards warmer climates, as low cloud cover is diminished and increased water vapour elevates the tropopause. Burning all fossil fuels, we conclude, would make most of the planet uninhabitable by humans, thus calling into question strategies that emphasize adaptation to climate change.

Reconciliation of marine and terrestrial carbon isotope excursions based on changing atmospheric CO₂ levels

Negative carbon isotope excursions measured in marine and terrestrial substrates indicate large-scale changes in the global carbon cycle, yet terrestrial substrates characteristically record a larger-amplitude carbon isotope excursion than marine substrates for a single event. Here we reconcile this difference by accounting for the fundamental increase in carbon isotope fractionation by land plants in response to increasing atmospheric CO₂ concentration (pCO₂). We show that for any change in pCO₂ concentration (ΔpCO₂), terrestrial and marine records can be used together to reconstruct background and maximum pCO₂ levels across the carbon isotope excursion. When applied to the carbon isotope excursion at the Palaeocene-Eocene boundary, we calculate pCO₂=674-1,034 p.p.m.v. during the Late Palaeocene and 1,384-3,342 p.p.m.v. during the height of the carbon isotope excursion across all sources postulated for the carbon release. This analysis demonstrates the need to account for changing pCO₂ concentration when analysing large-scale changes in the carbon isotope composition of terrestrial substrates.

Diversity in neotropical wet forests during the Cenozoic is linked more to atmospheric CO2 than temperature

Models generally predict a response in species richness to climate, but strong climate-diversity associations are seldom observed in long-term (more than 10(6) years) fossil records. Moreover, fossil studies rarely distinguish between the effects of atmospheric CO2 and temperature, which limits their ability to identify the causal controls on biodiversity. Plants are excellent organisms for testing climate-diversity hypotheses owing to their strong sensitivity to CO2, temperature and moisture. We find that pollen morphospecies richness in an angiosperm-dominated record from the Palaeogene and early Neogene (65-20 Ma) of Colombia and Venezuela correlates positively to CO2 much more strongly than to temperature (both tropical sea surface temperatures and estimates of global mean surface temperature). The weaker sensitivity to temperature may be due to reduced variance in long-term climate relative to in higher latitudes, or to the occurrence of lethal or sub-lethal temperatures during the warmest times of the Eocene. Physiological models predict that productivity should be the most sensitive to CO2 within the angiosperms, a prediction supported by our analyses if productivity is linked to species richness; however, evaluations of non-angiosperm assemblages are needed to more completely test this idea.

Making sense of palaeoclimate sensitivity

Many palaeoclimate studies have quantified pre-anthropogenic climate change to calculate climate sensitivity (equilibrium temperature change in response to radiative forcing change), but a lack of consistent methodologies produces a wide range of estimates and hinders comparability of results. Here we present a stricter approach, to improve intercomparison of palaeoclimate sensitivity estimates in a manner compatible with equilibrium projections for future climate change. Over the past 65 million years, this reveals a climate sensitivity (in K W(-1) m(2)) of 0.3-1.9 or 0.6-1.3 at 95% or 68% probability, respectively. The latter implies a warming of 2.2-4.8 K per doubling of atmospheric CO(2), which agrees with IPCC estimates.