Over 50 million years ago, long before humans evolved, the Earth was engulfed in an extremely warm period known as the Cenozoic hot house. The warming event was caused by a massive release of greenhouse gases from deep oceanic sediments and resulted in an Earth that was totally ice-free with subtropical conditions extending well beyond the Arctic Circle. The goal of this project is to document the remains of microscopic photosynthetic organisms from an extensive core representing an ancient Arctic lake during the Cenozoic hot house and use the findings to evaluate the effects of future warming on freshwater ecosystems. The core is remarkable and unique in that it contains a continuous record of events over an eight million year period. In addition to addressing global warming issues, this study will evaluate evolutionary questions for two ecologically important groups of organisms, including evolutionary stasis, formation of modern cell structures and rates of extinction.
From an environmental point of view, there is no greater sense of urgency worldwide than understanding the potential effects of global warming on our planet. Today, humans are pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at a rate greater than that which caused the Cenozoic hot house. The project offers a unique opportunity to understand how Arctic freshwater ecosystems respond to global warming and will yield information that can aid in the calibration of computer-based models.
