Description

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. Drawing on evidence from fossil plants and animals, computer models of the atmosphere, and experimental studies, David Beerling reveals the crucial role that plants have played in determining atmospheric change--and hence the conditions on the planet we know today-- something that has often been overlooked amidst the preoccuputations with dinosaur bones and animal fossils. "Beerling uses evidence from the plant fossil record (mutant spores, tree stumps from the Artic and Antarctic, 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

Features

• A wonderful, interdisciplinary approach examining the role of plants in Earth's history, encompassing evolution, climate change, botany, palaeontology, and history of science.
• Reveals the extraordinary amount that plants can tell us about the history of the planet -- something that has often been overlooked among the preoccupations with dinosaur bones and animal fossils.
• Provides a fascinating perspective on the controversial and crucial subject of global warming--for we can only fully understand climate change today by looking into the distant past, long before the rise of mankind.
• Incorporates cutting-edge research.
• Explains current science in an accessible and entertaining way.
• Looks at many fascinating puzzles: Why did plants evolve leaves? When and how did forests once grow on Antarctica? How did prehistoric insects manage to grow so large?

Reviews

"David Beerling is passionate about plants and their role in shaping the Earth, and this is clearly evident in his book The Emerald Planet. An interesting and enjoyable read."--The Astrobiology Society of Britain

"The result is a book that is fascinating and exciting to read."--merican Scientist

Product Details

304 pages; 13 line diagrams, & 8pp B&W plate section; 5-1/4 x 7-3/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-954814-9ISBN10: 0-19-954814-5

About the Author(s)