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Vegetation could offset atmospheric warming by around 0.6 °C over land during a projected 30-year period during which atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are double those of pre-industrial times.
Lahouari Bounoua of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and his colleagues ran three long-term climate models simulating various plant feedback effects. These included a response that increases leaf density and decreases photosynthesis at higher CO2 levels. This caused greater water availability and evaporation from plant surfaces — providing additional cooling not previously accounted for. Average global temperatures rose by 1.68 °C, 0.26 °C less than predicted by conventional models.
The results are in line with observations and suggest that long-term plant responses could moderate global temperatures if CO2 levels are stabilized.
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More plants, more cooling. Nature 469, 447 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/469447f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/469447f