Predicted Warming from CO2 Effects on Plants (IMAGE)

Carnegie Institution for Science

Predicted Warming from CO2 Effects on Plants

Caption

Map of globe shows percentage of predicted warming due to the direct effect of carbon dioxide on plants. Carbon dioxide warms the Earth because it is a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, but it also causes plants to provide less evaporative cooling. A study by Long Cao and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution for Science finds that in some places (darkest orange) over 25 percent of the warming from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is a result of decreased evaporative cooling by plants.

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Carnegie Institution

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