Higher atmospheric levels
of carbon dioxide (CO2)
act as a fertilizer
for the world’s plants.
A good summary
of real science studies
proving that point
are here:
All across the planet,
the increase in the
atmosphere’s
CO2 concentration
has stimulated
vegetative productivity
(Zhu et al., 2016;
Cheng et al., 2017).
Thousands of studies
and experiments
demonstrate the
growth-enhancing,
water-conserving, and
stress-alleviating effects
of elevated atmospheric CO2.
(Idso and Idso, 1994;
Ainsworth and Long, 2005;
Bunce, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016;
Bourgault et al., 2017;
Sanz-Sáez et al., 2017;
Sultana et al., 2017).
A doubling of atmosphere’s
will raise the productivity
of Earth’s herbaceous plants
by 30% to 50%
(Kimball, 1983;
Idso and Idso, 1994),
while the productivity
of its woody plants will rise
by 50% to 80%
(Saxe et al. 1998;
Idso and Kimball, 2001).
Claims that global warming
will reduce global food output
are based on computer models
not real-world data.
Crop yields have
continued to rise globally.
REFERENCES:
Bunce, J.A. 2005.
Seed yield of soybeans with daytime
or continuous elevation of carbon dioxide
under field conditions.
Photosynthetica 43: 435–8.
Bunce, J.A. 2012.
Responses of cotton
and wheat photosynthesis
and growth to cyclic variation
in carbon dioxide concentration.
Photosynthetica 50: 395–400.
Bunce, J.A. 2013.
Effects of pulses of
elevated carbon dioxide
concentration on
stomatal conductance
and photosynthesis
in wheat and rice.
Physiologia Plantarum 149: 214–21.
Bunce, J.A. 2014.
Limitations to soybean photosynthesis
at elevated carbon dioxide
in free-air enrichment
and open top chamber systems.
Plant Science 226: 131–5.
Bunce, J.A. 2016.
Responses of soybeans and wheat
to elevated CO2 in free-air
and open top chamber systems.
Field Crops Research 186: 78–85.
Cheng, L., et al. 2017.
Recent increases in
terrestrial carbon uptake
at little cost to the water cycle.
Nature Communications 8: 110.
Idso, K.E. and Idso, S.B. 1994.
Plant responses
to atmospheric CO2 enrichment
in the face of environmental constraints:
a review of the past 10 years’ research.
Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 69: 153–203.
Idso, S.B. and Kimball, B.A. 2001.
CO2 enrichment of sour orange trees:
13 years and counting.
Environmental and Experimental Botany 46: 147–53.
Kimball, B.A. 1983.
Carbon dioxide and agricultural yield:
an assemblage and analysis
of 430 prior observations.
Agronomy Journal 75: 779–88.
Sanz-Sáez, A., Koester, R.P., Rosenthal,
D.M., Montes, C.M., Ort, D.R., and Ainsworth, E.A. 2017.
Leaf and canopy scale drivers
of genotypic variation
in soybean response
to elevated carbon dioxide
concentration.
Global Change Biology 23: 3908–20.
Saxe, H., Ellsworth, D.S., and Heath, J. 1998.
Tree and forest functioning
in an enriched CO2 atmosphere.
New Phytologist 139: 395–436.
Sultana, H., Armstrong, R., Suter, H.,
Chen, D., and Nicolas, M.E. 2017.
A short-term study of wheat grain
protein response to post-anthesis
foliar nitrogen application
under elevated CO2
and supplementary irrigation.
Journal of Cereal Science 75: 135–7.
Zhu, Z., et al. 2016.
Greening of the Earth and its drivers.
Nature Climate Change 6: 791–5.