The capacity of plants to bind carbon is a key factor in calculating the effects of climate change as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere.
Scientists have now measured how much biomass grows under air with elevated CO2 concentrations in several long term field experiments. Growth stimulation was poor or missing when the plants lived in poor soil, in some cases after only ten years.
“The total biomass that binds carbon was not stimulated more by the elevated CO2 levels in our experiments over time. Exactly when growth slowed down depended on various factors, but one important one was how much nitrogen the soil contained,” says Louise Andresen, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg.
Read more at: University of Gothenburg
Test site where extra carbon dioxide is emitted to the air and the biomass growth is measured in the plants. (Photo Credit: Louise C Andresen)