As the World Warms: Trees and Shrubs Proliferating in Sweden

they state that the change in shrubs and small trees they observed is "consistent with anticipated changes due to climate change and reduced herbivory," which change in climate, in their words, "could be interpreted as an ongoing natural re-establishment of plants at higher altitudes due to a natural increase in the temperature since the 'Little Ice Age' (Kammer et al., 2007)."

Tree Growth in the Swedish Sub-Arctic: Setting New Records

Hedenas et al. write that in spite of the increased browsing pressure provided by an increasing reindeer population over the period of their study, as well as periodic outbursts of geometrid moths - which severely defoliated the birch trees in their study area in 2004 (Babst et al., 2010) - "there has been a net increase in biomass - and carbon drawdown - of 19%." As for the cause of this welcome phenomenon, they say "it has been suggested that increased nutrient availability associated with higher soil temperatures, and a longer growing season could underpin increased tree and shrub abundance and biomass in the Arctic (e.g., Chapin, 1983; Weih and Karlsson, 1997; Hartley et al., 1999)," as a result of "a delayed re-expansion of shrubs and trees following the 'Little Ice Age'," as suggested by Grubb (2008). And, of course, we have the ongoing and ever-increasing aerial fertilization and transpiration-reducing effects of the concomitant rise in the atmosphere's CO₂ concentration, which must be playing significant roles as well, as the remarkable Greening of the Earth continues.

Dust Deposits at the Bottom of the Aral Sea

As the four researchers explain it, the temporal variations in the dust deposition are consistent with the changes in the "mean atmospheric temperature of the northern hemisphere during the past 2000 years, with low/high annual temperature anomalies corresponding to high/low dust supplies in the Aral Sea sediments, respectively," which finding reinforces the reality of a non-CO₂-induced millennial-scale cycling of Earth's surface air temperature, and thus provides no need whatsoever for any greenhouse-gas-induced phenomenon to explain the planet's current level of warmth or when it began.

ENSO: A Permanent Feature of a Future Warmer World?

there was robust ENSO variability in past 'greenhouse' episodes

Evolutionary and Adaptive Responses of Coral-Algal Symbioses to Potential Future Warming

Clearly, we are only just beginning to appreciate the many different ways in which Earth's coral-algal symbioses are capable of coping with significant changes in the planet's climate. They are true survivors.

Rapid Physiological Responses of the European Green Crab to Rising Temperatures

it is yet another example of a species demonstrating that it has the capacity to do what it needs to do to successfully cope with projected global warming, and without the need to migrate to accomplish it.