from NoTricksZone
Kenneth Richard
“…increased carbon dioxide concentrations not only promote vegetation growth through the fertilizer effect, but also indirectly increase water availability [reducing drought risk] By improving water use efficiency. – Song et al., 2024
One of the more common concerns associated with global warming is that intense heat will dry out (brown) land landscapes, limit vegetation growth, and cause water shortages and even widespread droughts.
However, a new research Showing that rising CO2 levels on Earth have exactly the opposite effect in the real world.
In a broad analysis of trends over the past few decades, scientists determined that rising carbon dioxide concentrations were the most “dominant driver” (accounting for 45% of the correlation) when assessing the link between reducing vegetation water demand and improving water efficiency.
For example, compared to carbon dioxide, temperature and precipitation play a much smaller role in influencing trends in vegetation growth and water use efficiency improvements (correlation 10-11%).
“The carbon dioxide fertilization effect has benefits for both vegetation growth and water use efficiency (WUE).”
“…elevated carbon dioxide concentrations may indirectly increase water availability by improving water availability [water use efficiency]…reduce the water requirements of vegetation.
Image source: Song et al., 2024
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