Exquisitely preserved leaves from a forest that grew some 23 million years ago have offered a window into how climate change may alter the world’s vegetation in the decades ahead. The findings suggest that plants have, in the past, experienced a “carbon fertilisation effect” — growing more vigorously when atmospheric CO 2 levels were higher. The fossilised leaves were retrieved from a former lakebed in New Zealand, from rocks formed during a warm period of the Earth’s history known as the Early Miocene. They are preserved so perfectly that scientists can see microscopic veins and stomata, the pores through which leaves take in air and release water during photo- synthesis. The leaves also retain their original chemical compositionThey were taken from different layers of

Source: The Times August 20, 2020 23:02 UTC