CO2 fertilization effect

The CO2 fertilization effect or carbon fertilization effect causes an increased rate of <a href="/facts/Photosynthesis/TMV7w693">photosynthesis</a> while limiting leaf transpiration in plants. Both processes result from increased levels of <a href="/facts/Atmospheric_carbon_dioxide/h6A4HSzy">atmospheric carbon dioxide</a> (CO2). The carbon fertilization effect varies depending on plant species, air and soil temperature, and availability of water and nutrients. Net <a href="/facts/Primary_production/14RzcF5E">primary productivity</a> (NPP) might positively respond to the carbon fertilization effect, although evidence shows that enhanced rates of photosynthesis in plants due to CO2 fertilization do not directly enhance all plant growth, and thus carbon storage. The carbon fertilization effect has been reported to be the cause of 44% of <a href="/facts/Gross_Primary_Production/14RzcF5E">gross primary productivity</a> (GPP) increase since the 2000s. <a href="/facts/Earth_System_Model/dG9qMCbX">Earth System Models</a>, Land System Models and <a href="/facts/Dynamic_global_vegetation_model/ugHMRaF2">Dynamic Global Vegetation Models</a> are used to investigate and interpret vegetation trends related to increasing levels of atmospheric CO2. However, the <a href="/facts/Ecosystem/kVE8mSmR">ecosystem processes</a> associated with the CO2 fertilization effect remain uncertain and therefore are challenging to model.
Terrestrial ecosystems have reduced atmospheric CO2 concentrations and have partially mitigated <a href="/facts/Effects_of_climate_change/M5EvHf14">climate change effects</a>. The response by plants to the carbon fertilization effect is unlikely to significantly reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration over the next century due to the increasing anthropogenic influences on atmospheric CO2. Earth's vegetated lands have shown significant greening since the early 1980s largely due to rising levels of atmospheric CO2. 
Theory predicts the <a href="/facts/Tropics/Iv1es8Ih">tropics</a> to have the largest uptake due to the carbon fertilization effect, but this has not been observed. The amount of CO2 uptake from CO2 fertilization also depends on how forests respond to climate change, and if they are protected from <a href="/facts/Deforestation/L1TNhN9p">deforestation</a>. 
Changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide may reduce the <a href="/facts/Nutrition/SMJ3Dhfs">nutritional</a> quality of some crops, with for instance wheat having less protein and less of some minerals.: 439  Food crops could see a reduction of <a href="/facts/Protein/Jxmagu3E">protein</a>, <a href="/facts/Iron/QK1JYy8E">iron</a> and <a href="/facts/Zinc/80b1qgk3">zinc</a> content in common food crops of 3 to 17%.

CO2 fertilization effect open-in-new

CO2 fertilization effect