carbon dioxide in the atmosphere

NASA will host a seminar at 11 a.m. EST, Friday, Nov. 14, to discuss the current state of knowledge about how the "breathing" Earth influences current and future levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A recent study created a bit of a mystery for soil scientists -- increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was expected to increase plant growth, increase plant biomass and ultimately beef up the organic matter in the soil -- but it didn't.

What researchers found instead was that organic matter decay increased along with residue inputs when carbon dioxide levels were increased and they think the accelerated decay was due to increased moisture in the soil.