A "Hardy Perennial of Climate Denialism": More CO2 in the Atmosphere Will be Good for Plants

Since plants use carbon dioxide (CO₂) during photosynthesis, isn't more CO₂ better for plants?  Peter Sinclair terms that notion "one of the hardy perennials of climate denialism," and tackles it in the latest of his “Climate Denial: Crock of the Week” videos. The videos are produced by Sinclair's Greenman Studio LLC, a graphic design and animation studio in Midland, Michigan. 

Sinclair shows that the climate disruption that occurs with rising atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ is in many cases negatively -- and in some instances disastrously -- affecting crops, forests and  other plant life on the planet, including ocean phytoplankton.

Just four days after Sinclair released his video, scientists today (20 August) report in the journal Science that global plant productivity on land declined over the last decade because of a drying trend in the Southern Hemisphere and large-scale regional droughts in both hemispheres. 

Above: Earth's plant productivity in 2003 shows regions of increased productivity (green) and decreased productivity (red).   Source: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

The article by Maosheng Zhao and Steven W. Running, Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009, concludes:

"Under a changing climate, severe regional droughts have become more frequent, a trend expected to continue for the foreseeable future. The warming-associated heat and drought not only decrease NPP [net primary production], but also may trigger many more ecosystem disturbances, releasing carbon to the atmosphere. Reduced NPP potentially threatens global food security and future biofuel production and weakens the terrestrial carbon sink. Continuous global monitoring of NPP will be essential to determining whether the reduced NPP over the past 10 years is a decadal variation or a turning point to a declining terrestrial carbon sequestration under changing climate.^"

Below: Video summarizing the research findings described in today's article in Science, Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009.Credit: NASA/Michelle Williams.

Online resources:

Climate Denial: Crock of the Week Web site.

Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009. By Maosheng Zhao and Steven W. Running in Science, 20 August 2010, Vol. 329. no. 5994, pp. 940 - 943.

Drought Drives Decade-Long Decline in Plant Growth.  Press release (19 August 2010) from NASA.  See also the illustrated feature article from NASA, Drought Drives Decade-Long Decline in Plant Growth.

See too the related posting, Science shocker: Drought drives decade-long decline in plant growth, by Joe Romm, Climate Progress, 19 August 2010.