Redwood Reader

Sadly we watch the spectacle of climate talks agree only to have further talks, with the U.S. failing to agree to that. Sadly because the entire issue is emissions and control of emissions, in the light of economic impacts. Even then there is disagreement about the cost, as Clinton pointed out.
In our studies we are aware the carbon sources from the ground are a huge factor in greenhouse gases, especially CO2. We also know that heightened temperature causes vegetation to use more CO2 through increased production for the plants and their associated fungi.
One of the key findings in Rilligs’ DOE work was the concept that plant production was deposited in the deeper reaches of the soil. That is to say, deep roots and their mycorhizzia got a larger share of primary production than roots closer to the surface. This illustrates our riparian sponge concept in that the poorer soil is being given extra attention in order to increase the water holding capacity of the ecosystem.
This weeks CO2 Science Magazine has an article about a recently published paper in, Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment and Ectomycorrhizal Infection of Red Pine Trees. This is an important step into discovering the actual mechanisms of soil fungi response to increased CO2. Ectomycorrhizal fungi are the major form of mycorhizzia associated with temperate forest trees, and are locally abundant and essential to forest health. Once again there is no glomalin component to the work, but we are filling in the blanks at an ever increasing pace.

Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment and Ectomycorrhizal Infection of Red Pine Trees
Reference
Choi, D.S., Quoreshi, A.M., Maruyama, Y., Jin, H.O. and Koike, T. 2005. Effect of ectomycorrhizal infection on growth and photosynthetic characteristics of Pinus densiflora seedlings grown under elevated CO2 concentrations. Photosynthetica 43: 223-229.
What was done
Red pines (Pinus densiflora Sieb. et Zucc.) were grown from seed for 18 weeks in a sunlit phytotron at either ambient CO2 (AC = 360 ppm) or elevated CO2 (EC =720 ppm), with or without inoculation of their roots with the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus tinctorius (Pers.) Coker et Couch (Pt), while a variety of measurements were made of both the seedlings and the fungus.
What was learned
The authors report that "the infection rate of Pt in P. densiflora seedlings grown at EC was significantly higher than at AC," noting that "previous studies have also found that ecotmycorrhizal development in seedlings of several tree species at EC was greater than at AC (Seegmuller and Rennenberg, 1994; Ineichen et al., 1995; Rey and Jarvis, 1997; Runion et al., 1997, Rouhier and Read, 1998)."
What it means
The CO2-induced enhancement of Pt infection rate in P. densiflora and Pt's subsequent more robust development is very significant, for Choi et al. write that "ectomycorrhizal development enlarges the absorptive surface of the root, with widely ramified hyphae allowing the release of phosphatases, which enhance the availability of organic phosphate and exude organic acids," which interactions between host plant and ectomycorrhiza "increase the use efficiency of limited soluble phosphate and organic N in soil (Smith and Read, 1997; Lambers et al., 1998)." Consequently, they suggest that seedlings with better developed Pt, such as occurs in response to atmospheric CO2 enrichment, "have increased nutrient and water uptake, leading to improved plant nutritional status and giving rise to more vigorous physiological response, in particular photosynthetic activity, and that these responses delay down-regulation at EC."
References
Ineichen, K., Wiemken, V. and Wiemken, A. 1995. Shoots, roots and ectomycorrhizal formation of pine seedlings at elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide. Plant, Cell and Environment 18: 703-707.
Lambers, H., Chapin III, F.S. and Pons, T.L. 1998. Plant Physiological Ecology. Springer-Verlag, New York, New York, USA.
Rey, A. and Jarvis, P.G. 1997. Growth response of young birch trees (Betula pendula Roth.) after four and a half years of CO2 exposure. Annals of Botany 80: 809-816.
Rouhier, H. and Read, D.J. 1998. Plant and fungal responses to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide in mycorrhizal seedlings of Pinus sylvestris. Environmental and Experimental Botany 40: 237-246.
Runion, G.B., Mitchell, R.J., Rogers, H.H., Prior, S.A. and Counts, T.K. 1997. Effects of nitrogen and water limitation and elevated atmospheric CO2 on ectomycorrhiza of longleaf pine. New Phytologist 137: 681-689.
Seegmuller, S. and Rennenberg, H. 1994. Interactive effects of mycorrhization and elevated carbon dioxide on growth of young pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.) trees. Plant and Soil 167: 325-329.
Smith, S.E. and Read, D.J. 1997. Mycorrhizal Symbiosis. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA.
Reviewed 7 December 2005 http://www.co2science.org/scripts/CO2ScienceB2C/articles/V8/N49/B2.jsp

Between all the articles we have reviewed it is clear we have a sound hypothesis. In almost two years I have nothing that disagrees with the premise, and found all kinds of supporting data. What we don’t have yet is quantification of glomalin deposits, a simple explanation of water delayed in the biological zone as part of the basic water cycle, or public awareness that we are living in a time of great opportunity for all forces dependant on carbon dioxide, such as natural resources and agriculture. The critical link to water supply is not being studied anywhere, yet loss of glaciers means rethinking water supply throughout the West and many other parts of the world dependant on snow pack runoff in the dry season. We will be forced to think in terms of rainwater harvesting. Failure to recognize the natural order results in rainwater harvest in terms of cisterns in developed areas, rather than landscape BMPs that direct precipitation into underground storage.
I am not sure greenhouse gases are the only cause of warming anyway. Nova had an article about the poles shifting in response to heat plumes from the molten iron core of the earth. Todays paper has an article about the North Pole (magnetic) moving from Canada to the Siberian side. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4520982.stm
What is the impact of lighting? Radioactive materials concentrated then vaporized in testing or as depleted uranium? Body heat of the human biomass? Urban heat sinks? The vast amount of rotting garbage in the world? Whatever the cause, we are but a flash of geologic time that we can certainly shorten but probably can extend only in the face of gradual change, leading to what comes next for us. Some go theological but what will fill the environmental niches left behind?