Simple. Since the GOE, the UPPER LIMIT of CO2 concentration of the atmosphere has been defined by the LOWER LIMIT of plant life to survive in a CO2 starved environment.
The successive evolution of C3, C4, and CAM respiratory cycles have been the major breakpoints in allowing successively lower and lower CO2 concentrations. Were it not for human intervention, it's entirely possible that C3 life would be suffocated out by the more advanced cycles.
The immediate retort is "if plants are so greedy that they're the limiting factor then how is CO2 concentration climbing?" The answer is evolution. It takes time for plant life to respond to increased CO2 concentration by shifting from more investment in reproduction to more investment in photosynthesis. Also, on a geologic scale, we've barely nudged the needle for atmospheric concentration. A few percent, when over geologic timescales Earth has seen sustained periods of life where the concentration was 10 times higher.
We ARE seeing a transition occur, NASA has confirmed the Earth is becoming "greener" as plants react to the sustained increase in available CO2.
During the time of the dinosaurs, CO2 concentration was such that plant growth was much faster than it is today.
Wrong.
Simple. Since the GOE, the UPPER LIMIT of CO2 concentration of the atmosphere has been defined by the LOWER LIMIT of plant life to survive in a CO2 starved environment.
The successive evolution of C3, C4, and CAM respiratory cycles have been the major breakpoints in allowing successively lower and lower CO2 concentrations. Were it not for human intervention, it's entirely possible that C3 life would be suffocated out by the more advanced cycles.
The immediate retort is "if plants are so greedy that they're the limiting factor then how is CO2 concentration climbing?" The answer is evolution. It takes time for plant life to respond to increased CO2 concentration by shifting from more investment in reproduction to more investment in photosynthesis. Also, on a geologic scale, we've barely nudged the needle for atmospheric concentration. A few percent, when over geologic timescales Earth has seen sustained periods of life where the concentration was 10 times higher.
We ARE seeing a transition occur, NASA has confirmed the Earth is becoming "greener" as plants react to the sustained increase in available CO2.
During the time of the dinosaurs, CO2 concentration was such that plant growth was much faster than it is today.