Thanks, Dave. This is news to me. I've heard a lot of anecdotes about 
life forms in the deep, deep south, things like sheep in S. Argentina 
going blind and krill populations diminishing, but little substantiated 
data with cause and effect.

As for intrapolating the found data back to other geological eras, I 
would be very hesitant to rely on that alone, without confirmation from 
a totally different kind of source. However, the use of the word 
'potential' is correct.

Brian

MA/NY DDave wrote:
> Hi Brian, EnviroNetrs,
> 
> Still haven't found the article on organisms in the upper (not sub) ocean that 
> may have been involved with a huge previous Global Warming spell, YET I 
> found this one that I thought my interest you since you are an expert on 
> Ozone.  You might already have it. For others it should be interesting to see 
> some of the science involved.
> 
> http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2005ESP/finalprogram/abstract_88582.htm
> 
> <The spores and pollen of terrestrial land plants can increase their investment 
> in UV-B screening pigments when exposed to elevated levels of UV-B radiation. 
> Here, we report an increase in UV-B protecting pigments from a historical 
> record of the spores of Lycopodium magellanicum growing in South Georgia and 
> exposed to a progressive thinning of stratospheric ozone and a corresponding 
> increase in UV-B radiation. Our data records a strong three fold linear increase 
> in the concentration of UV-B protecting pigments in response to a 14% 
> thinning of the ozone column. Our results were obtained using micro FT-IR 
> analysis of sporopollenin, which is readily preserved in the fossil record. 
> Therefore, this newly identified response offers a potential tool for 
> investigating natural changes in the stratospheric ozone layer and UV-B flux 
> over geological time. 
> 
> We are initially targeting the Permo-Triassic boundary for further investigation, 
> as recent work has suggested a global collapse in the stratospheric ozone due 
> to the emplacement of the Siberian Traps. This hypothesis can now be 
> thoroughly tested using a combined approach, involving the examination of 
> extant plants subjected to experimentally manipulated UV-B radiation, the 
> geochemical study of fossil spores and pollen and the long-term modelling of 
> stratospheric ozone. 
>  
> Earth System Processes 2 (8-11 August 2005) 
>  
> YiEngr, MA/NY DDave
> Yours in Engineering, Dave
>