Burning
fossil fuels
has unintended
benefits.
Increased CO2
stimulates
plant growth,
in spite of fires,
plant diseases,
pest outbreaks,
deforestation,
and climate change.
This conclusion
is based on many
scientific studies:
Observational data
from real experiments,
and field research,
not from theoretical
computer models.
The climate
computer models
are usually
programmed
to predict
imaginary
negative
CO2 effects
on plants.
Temperature
predictions
from those
climate models
have been wrong
for over 30 years,
and their CO2
effect on plants
predictions are
also wrong !
In 1804, de Saussure
showed that peas
exposed to high
CO2 concentrations
grew better than
control plants
in ambient air.
590 scientific studies
of elevated CO2
effects on vegetation
demonstrated
increased levels
of CO2
generally produce
increases in
plant photosynthesis,
decreases in
plant water loss
by transpiration,
increases in leaf area,
and increases in
plant branch
and fruit numbers.
Strain, B.R.
"Report of the Workshop
on Anticipated Plant Responses
to Global Carbon Dioxide
Enrichment."
Durham, NC:
Duke University,
Department of Botany,
1978.
At the
International Conference
on Rising Atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide and
Plant Productivity,
the conclusion was
a doubling of
atmosphere CO2
would lead to
a 50% increase
in photosynthesis
in C3 plants,
a doubling of
water use efficiency
in both C3 and C4 plants,
significant increases
in nitrogen fixation,
and an increase
in the ability of plants
to adapt to a variety of
environmental stresses.
Lemon, E.R. (Editor)
"CO2 and Plants:
The Response of Plants
to Rising Levels
of Atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide. "
Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 1983.
Zhu et al. (2016),
in an article in
Nature Climate Change
titled
“Greening of the Earth
and its drivers,”
discussed global changes
in the leaf area index (LAI),
associated with
increasing CO2 levels:
"We show a persistent
and widespread increase
of growing season
integrated LAI (greening)
[from 1982 to 2009]
over 25% to 50%
of the global vegetated area,
whereas less than 4%
of the globe shows
decreasing LAI (browning)."
"CO2 fertilization effects
explain 70% of the
observed greening trend,
followed by
nitrogen deposition (9%),
climate change (8%) and
land cover change (4%).
Zhu, Z., et al.
"Greening of the Earth
and its drivers".
Nature Climate Change
6: 791–5, 2016.
Trees and shrubs growing
for multiple generations
in CO2-enriched air near
CO2-emitting
springs and vents
have been used to study
permanently elevated
CO2 concentrations.
Woody plants,
shrubs and trees,
have been growing
for multiple generations
in CO2-enriched air
near CO2-emitting
springs and vents
at various locations
in the world.
Fernandez et al. (1998)
studied very high
CO2 levels
produced by
natural CO2 springs
on an indigenous tree
during the rainy
and dry seasons
in Venezuela.
The ultra-high
CO2 concentrations,
up to 100 times
the current global mean
were not detrimental
to the trees.
High CO2 concentrations
reduced leaf
stomatal densities
by about 70%,
causing
water use efficiency
of the trees to rise
twofold and 19-fold,
respectively,
during the rainy
and dry seasons,
when measured at
a CO2 concentration
of 1,000 ppm
compared to an
ambient level of 350 ppm.
Fernandez, M.D.,
Pieters, A., Donoso, C.,
Tezara, W., Azuke, M.,
Herrera, C., Rengifo, E.,
and Herrera, A.
"Effects of a natural source
of very high CO2 concentration
on the leaf gas exchange,
xylem water potential
and stomatal characteristics
of plants of Spatiphylum
cannifolium and Bauhinia
multinervia".
New Phytologist
138: 689–697, 1998.
Polle et al. (2001)
collected acorns
from mature
holm oak trees
(Quercus ilex L.)
growing naturally
for their
entire lifetimes
at ambient and
twice-ambient
CO2 concentrations
due to different distances
from a CO2-emitting spring
in central Italy.
After germinating the acorns,
the resulting seedlings
were grown for eight months,
at both CO2 concentrations,
to determine whether
atmospheric CO2 enrichment
of parent trees had any effect
on seedling response
to CO2 enrichment.
The results reveal
elevated CO2 increased
whole-plant biomass
by 158% and 246%
in seedlings
derived from acorns
produced in ambient
and twice-ambient
atmospheric CO2
concentrations,
respectively.
Polle, A.,
McKee, I., and Blaschke, L.
"Altered physiological
and growth responses
to elevated [CO2]
in offspring from
holm oak
(Quercus ilex L.)
mother trees
with lifetime exposure
to naturally elevated [CO2]."
Plant, Cell & Environment
24: 1075–1083, 2001.