Environmental News Network - Nitrogen study casts doubt on ability of plants to continue absorbing same amounts of carbon dioxide

Details: By Indiana University; 23.Oct

A new study casts doubt as to whether plants will continue to absorb as much carbon dioxide in the future as they have in the past due to declining availability of nitrogen in certain parts of the world.

Mohammad Munshed

A new study casts doubt as to whether plants will continue to absorb as much carbon dioxide in the future as they have in the past due to declining availability of nitrogen in certain parts of the world.

When it comes to the role plants play in keeping the heat-trapping greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere, "it may not be business as usual," said Lixin Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at IUPUI.

Wang is a co-author of the paper "Isotopic evidence for oligotrophication of terrestrial ecosystems," which reports that finding. It was published Oct. 22 in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.

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Nitrogen study casts doubt on ability of plants to continue absorbing same amounts of carbon dioxide