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Sunday, July 02, 2023

Is CO2 Plant Food?

Andrew Dessler asks agricultural & food scientist David Lobell of Stanford if "CO2 is plant food."

2 comments:

  1. I have seen the generalisation where plants die with less than 150 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, have stunted growth around 200 ppm and thrive over 350 ppm.
    Plants using a C3 photosynthesis pathway benefit most from an increase in atmospheric CO2 but that pathway becomes less efficient at higher temperatures.
    Plants like corn and weeds have a C4 photosynthesis pathway that is better suited to higher temperatures.
    Plants like cacti and euphorbias using the CAM photosynthesis pathway absorb energy during the day and CO2 at night.
    As always there is the rider that CO2 on its own is useless without other factors such as water being favourable.

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