Question

Suppose a friend says that we don't need to worry about the rising temperatures associated with global climate change. Her claim is that increased temperatures will make planktonic algae grow faster and that carbon dioxide (CO2) will be removed from the atmosphere faster. According to her, this carbon will be buried at the bottom of the ocean in calcium carbonate shells. As a result, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will decrease and global warming will decline. Comment.'

A) Primary producers usually grow faster when CO2 concentration increases, but to date they have not grown fast enough to make CO2 levels drop.B) Primary producers usually grow slower when CO2 concentration increases, so to date they can't make CO2 levels drop.C) Primary producers grow fast enough to make CO2 levels drop even today.D) Primary producers don't remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

Answer 1

The correct answer is option A) "Primary producers usually grow faster when CO2 concentration increases, but to date they have not grown fast enough to make CO2 levels drop".

Step-by-step explanation:

It is true that primary producers, including planktonic algae, growth faster at rising temperatures and at high CO2 concentrations. However, it is not valid to assure that this response from primary producers will remediate the effects of global climate change. We have no evidence of an atmospheric CO2 concentration drop in the last years, even though we have evidence of rising temperatures. Therefore, we should consider that there are several conditions affected by global climate change, and primary producers growing faster is not enough to remediate them.