Direct Responses of Forest Trees to Rising Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.

摘要

In addition to their role in the global carbon cycle, trees are an important commodity, and increased tree growth would be an economic benefit offsetting to some degree the various deleterious effects of climate change. Unlike annual crop plants, individual trees that are planted today will experience substantially higher concentrations of CO2 during their lifetimes without the opportunity for genetic adaptation, whereas crop plants are constantly bred to perform best in the current CO2 environment. Reliable information on the capacity for different tree species to respond to rising CO2 and on the effect of elevated CO2 on tree responses to climatic change could influence the decisions of forest companies on what species to plant in different regions in order to maximize productivity in an atmosphere different from the atmosphere of today. 32 refs. (ERA citation 14:001628)