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.