CO2 fertilization
Plants
need CO2 for
photosynthesis. They generally obtain this CO2 through stomata, small openings on their leaves. But plants also lose water, another critical substance for
their survival,
through their stomata. This makes it essential that they be
able to control the
size of the stomata. When the CO2 concentration is
increased, the
stomata do not have to be as large to take in the same amount of CO2. So the plants can survive and
continue to grow
under drier conditions.
It
is possible that increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere are leading to enhanced growth rates of
terrestrial plants,
accounting for some of the missing carbon.
Microscopic
view of the underside of a leaf surface