Do Plants Enjoy Warmth and CO2 more or less then Cold and O2?

Question

Put on your thinking caps people.

Answer 1

It's why they call a greenhouse a greenhouse.

Answer 2

Depends on the plants.  These seem to like CO2 a lot.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13046200/

One problem is that crops will grow in different places.  Adapting to that will be costly.  When crops move across national borders there could be big trouble.

But the main problem with global warming and agriculture is that it will shift precipitation away from the equator toward the poles, away from prime farmland.  That's gonna hurt.

Answer 3

There are two parts to this:

1.  For plants, warm is better provided that it is not dry.  Higher temperatures mean faster growth.

2.  In most cases higher CO2 promotes faster growth.  Plants use the energy from sunlight to convert water and CO2 into carbohydrates, primarily in the form of cellulose, sugar and starch.  At night they burn some of the sugar for energy, consuming oxygen and giving off CO2.  On average, they consume more CO2 during the day than they produce.

The bottom line is that higher temperatures and CO2 levels promote plant growth, which is why past episodes of global warming are associated with prosperity due to increased crop yields.

Answer 4

I love your biting sarcasm.  :D  

Warmer climates, when wet, and more CO2 promotes more lush plant growth (look at the rainforest for example).  It would mean more food world wide and the like.

I think Tuba does his/her own studies and claims studies have been done.  :P

Answer 5

Different plants like different temperatures.  Plants grown in high CO2 environments have more, but small and deformed leaves.  They are stunted in size, and have markedly shortened life spans.  Yes, that research has been done.

edit

Yes Lissa, California and Sweden did those studies.  This got posted several times a day last year.  I'm tired of it so I'm not going to run and look it up.  You can do that if you want, or you can go right on posting the other thing.

{SIGH}

OK here's a few.  Never let it be said that I failed to spoon feed the hungry.

Answer 6

I think you know very well that plant seeds will not germinate without heat.  Most of our food crops depends on seed germination.  Colder weather will also inhibit plant growth.

Many greenhouses pump in 1000 ppm CO2 to increase plant growth - this would also be ideal for Earth's atmosphere for maximum plant growth.

However if cooling takes place - much of our food crops will not even start up (germinate)

Everyone forgets that weeds/lawns also use CO2 and weeds will out pace trees for CO2 sequestering.  This is not  considering ocean plants that uptake CO2 = which is even greater!

You can find long term studies about CO2 and plants here:

http://www.co2science.org/

Interesting study about volcanic venting CO2 and increased plant growth.

Answer 7

compare the number of plants in Brazil to the number of plants at the north pole.

draw your own conclusions. or ask a global warming whack job for their unbiased opinion to get an interesting answer.

Answer 8

Yes, they prefer a warm climate with more CO2.

Actually most of life on the planet is more prosperous during the warming periods.

That's why I'm kind a bummed that this current warming period seems to be over. The planet's been showing signs of cooling for the last 10 years.  I wish it would go back to the warming period, but we can't control the weather, can we?

Answer 9

This gets really complicated. We all know that different species and varieties of plants have adapted differently to become successful in their own environments, but different species assimulate carbon differently also. The portion of the plant above ground carries out photosynthesis, the root system carries out respiration Cool season plants, such as petunias, rye grass, geraniums,etc contain the enzyme  ribulose biphosphate that is inefficent at assimulating carbon molecules. All this occurs in the Calvin Benson cycle, and is much more involved than what is being stated here. Cool season plants could consume more carbon by leaving their stomates open, but this creates high water loss, or evapotranspiration. Therefore these plants are better at consuming carbon in cool climates with plenty of water that is held in the pore space of their soils. This allows them to consume both water and carbon freely. Warm season plants are better suited for carbon use in warmer climates because they use the enzyme phosphenal pyruvate which has a high affinity for CO2. This allows the plant to keep its stomates closed to reduce water loss, which is more ideal in warm climates .

Answer 10

Of course.  O2 is a toxic gas at high concentrations, as it is very corrosive.  This is why divers must use exotic gases during deep sea dives.

Warmth is good for all life.

Answer 11

As atmospheric CO2 - the lifeblood of the planet - has gradually risen over the course of the Industrial Revolution, for example, the biosphere has begun to reveal its true strength, with the plants of the planet growing ever more robustly and profusely, as they expand their ranges over the face of the earth and extract ever greater quantities of CO2 from the air and sequester its carbon in their tissues and the soil into which they sink their roots (Idso, 1995).

A good case in point is the vegetation of the coterminous United States.  Pacala et al. (2001) report in a recent article in Science that estimates of the country's 48-state carbon sequestering power have grown significantly over the past several years, from a range of 0.08-0.35 x 1015 grams of carbon per year (Pg C yr-1) in the 1980s to a range of 0.37-0.71 Pg C yr-1 today, with some evidence suggesting values as high as 0.81-0.84 Pg C yr-1 (Fan et al., 1998).  Likewise, we read in another report in the same issue of Science that carbon sequestration in China is growing like gangbusters as well (Fang et al., 2001).  With a little help from the government via several "ecological restoration projects" aimed primarily at afforestation and reforestation, the world's most populous country has turned around what had been a losing proposition with respect to carbon capture by forests to where it has now been increasing its forest carbon sequestration rate by an average of 0.021 Pg C yr-1 for about the last two decades.