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Ag News
Scientists: CO2 Affects Delayed for Years
Published Monday, November 23, 2009 at 05:07 AM
If you look closely at past individual plant species' responses, you may find that the largest effects of high carbon dioxide levels occurred decades ago. Agricultural Research Service scientists say that is when the botanical structure of the world's grasslands changed dramatically, offering clues to the future. For years, Wayne Polley and Philip Fay, ecologists at the ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, Texas, studied plant reactions to a gradient of CO2 levels, from the Ice Age--13,000 to 18,000 B.C.--to the year 2050 A.D. Among their recent findings is that grasses respond to higher CO2 levels by using water more efficiently.

The researchers also report that efficient water use by prairie grasses sounds like a good thing, but weedy shrubs and grasses also benefit from increased water use efficiency. They believe this may help weeds outcompete desirable forage plants. But the cumulative effects of these individual species' responses on plant communities won't be obvious for years.

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