The United Nations’
Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC)
claims rising CO2 levels,
will harm plants.
For the Summary
for Policymakers
2014 report,
Working Group II said,
“Without adaptation,
local temperature
increases of 1°C or more
above preindustrial levels
are projected to
negatively impact
yields for the major crops
(wheat, rice, maize)
in tropical and
temperate regions,
although
individual locations
may benefit
(medium confidence).
With or without adaptation,
climate change will reduce
median yields by 0 to 2%
per decade for the
rest of the century,
as compared to a baseline
without climate change”
(IPCC 2014, p. 10).
Well, that's a very
puzzling IPCC prediction,
because the IPCC claims
the average temperature
has ALREADY increased
+1 degrees C. above
preindustrial levels ...
and major crop output
is higher than ever!
That IPCC prediction
is BS.
IPCC was ignoring a
huge amount of
research published in
peer-reviewed journals
that contradicts them.
Rising CO2
leads to enhanced
plant fitness,
flower pollination,
and nectar production,
leading to increases
in fruit, grain, and
vegetable yields
of agricultural crops.
Rising CO2
creates bigger plants
with more extensive
root systems,
enabling them
to extract more mineral
nutrients from the soil.
Rising CO2
causes plants to
reduce the time their
stomata remain open,
when they lose water
through transpiration,
which reduces their
water requirements.
Some plants
also reduce
the density
( number per square inch )
of stomates
on their leaves.
Rising CO2
significantly enhances
the condensed tannin
concentrations
of the vast majority
of trees and grasses,
providing them
with stronger defenses
against herbivores
both above and
below ground.
This means a reduction
of the amount of methane,
a potent greenhouse gas,
released to the atmosphere
by ruminants browsing
on tree leaves and grass.
Over 3,600 experiments
on 549 plant species
reveal nearly all plants
experience increases
in dry weight (biomass)
in response to
CO2 enrichment.
Growth enhancement
occurs because CO2
is the primary
raw material
used by plants
to produce
the organic matter
out of which they
construct their tissues.
The more CO2 in the air,
the faster and bigger
plants grow.
In Switzerland,
Niklaus et al. (2001)
exposed a nutrient-poor
and water-limited,
calcareous grassland
dominated by
Bromus erectus
to CO2 concentrations
of about 360 and 600 ppm
CO2-induced increases
in biomass production
in years one through six
were, respectively,
5%, 20%, 22%, 27%,
31%, and 18%,
for an average of 23.6%
over the last five years
of the study
(Niklaus and Körner, 2004).
As CO2 content
of the air increases,
nearly all plants
respond positively,
by increasing their
photosynthetic rates
and producing
more biomass.
As the air’s
CO2 content rises,
and the Earth greens,
the resulting
larger forests
can sequester
more carbon,
slowing the rise
of atmospheric CO2
from burning
fossil fuels.