Could increasing amounts of CO2 cause more foliage in plants?

For a while now scientists have suspected that all the extra CO2 in the air has been having a CO2 fertilization' effect on plants around the world. A study has been conducted from 1982 until now, monitoring arid, low foliage places around the worlds. Some places monitored have been the Southwest corner of North America, parts of the Middle East and Africa, and the Australian Outback. When plants photosynthesize, they use up carbon dioxide and are able to retain more water within themselves. The more water a plant has available for itself, the more leaves it is able to grow. Plants are able to photosynthesize more if they have more available atmospheric carbon dioxide. So with those facts one can reason that If a plant has more Co2 available, it will photosynthesize more; If a plant photosynthesizes more, it will have more water available to itself; If a plant has more water to itself, it will grow more leaves. Seems fairly logical, right? Utilizing satellite imagery, the previously mentioned areas have been monitored over the years and the amount of green in these areas is continually increasing. Many things affect how much foliage a plant will produce, but in these areas the only factor to be really changing is the increasing amount of CO2. So other possibilities of increase in foliage such as, more rain, can be deducted. So this seeming trend of increasing green with the increasing CO2 could eventually very well transform landscapes and ecosystems over time and bring evolution of organisms in a new direction.


Original article:
 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130531105415.htm


Themes of science:
-science is collaborative (it takes several teams of scientists and organizations to conduct such a study)
-science is based on evidence (experiments were conducted)
-science is subject to debate and tentative (even though closely examined, other factors can still affect the outcome of the experiment, and some may argue the results because of this)

New Myramid Wasp Discovered

Recently in far east of Russia, a new specie of wasp has been discovered. Serguei V. Triapitsyn, lead scientist at University of California, named the new wasp after the college. Ganotocerus ucri is a very small species of wasp, ranging from 1.1 to 1.2 millimeters in length. Although this wasp's exact diet is unknown, several related wasps parasitize upon the eggs of the leaf hopper, a pest to modern agriculture. The wasp was discovered in a study in Primorsky Kray, Russia. Primorsky Kray has little in the means of population and is known for its rich fauna with the wasp family. A trap utilizing alcohol as bait and preservative was used to catch random insect specimens, among them this new one was discovered. Triapitsyn will soon be describing another new parasitic wasp species, this one found in southern California.

TOS:

1) Science is collaborative-    it took different teams of scientist to conduct the study, by setting traps, checking them, and recovering the results.

2) Role of motivation and curiosity-   few people wake up with the urge to go hunting for new species of parasitic wasps, lucky for us, Triapitsyn was one of those people. Without scientists dedicated to things many may not consider, a lot of discoveries waiting to be found and studied may never be acknowledged.

Endangered Deer Making a Notable Comeback

The Huemal Deer Lives in a region known as Patagonia in South America. Since the early 19th century the population of this naturally tame and docile iconic Chilean figure has dropped almost 99%. This is mostly because of overhunting and the deer's competition for its natural habitat with cattle ranching. Within the last 9 years or so the population has made a dramatic recovery from it's endangered status. It has also been able to move down out of the mountains where it took refuge from hunters and ranching, and back into its natural forested habitat in which it thrives. If it had not been to a group of dedicated park rangers and a team of scientists the deer may be facing extinction. For a very long time the area in which the Huemal lives has been a nation park, but only recently has it been patrolled by government officials to enforce environmental regulations there (i.e. no hunting). The scattered stations are positioned around the wide expanse of unpopulated land, in fact, It can take up to two days by river to reach one of the park ranger stations. With luck and persistence, the Chilean government can sustain their efforts to monitor the parks and enforce conservation. Things look to be getting much better for the Huemal, as well as hundreds of other species living in the land. 

(Huemal Deer lives in the blue range)