The reading and the lecture give information about the Antartica.

The reading and the lecture give information about the Antartica. While the reading suggest three argument to support that Antartica was as much wormer than it is today to the point that could support rich ecosystem and divers plant life, the lecture indicated that all the three theories illustrated in the reading passage are not convincing. First, The lecture mentions that the source of pollen grain are not from antarctica trees origin. He exeplains that due to it light weight, they are possibly carried by wind and ocean from warmer area in Africa and south America to Atractica coastlines. That disagrees with what the reading indicates. Second, contrary to what belief in the reading, the lectuer says that despite the volcanic activities, scientists found that the carbon dioxide level was not high in the atmosphere at the Middle Miocene era as the reading mentions. In fact, their finding reveals that carbon dioxide level was less than it is today. Finally, The high level of deuterium found in the remains of plants does not essentially indicates the amount of rainfall in the Middle Miocene. The professor emphasizes that different plants type have different absorption capacity to deuterium. Perhaps the plants grow during the Middle miocene era keept a high amount of deuterium. This contrast with the reading theory that indicates that the plants absorbed larg amount of deterium due to an increase in a rainfall, which support the warmer climet theory at that era.