Plant nutrient acquisition under elevated CO₂ and implications for the land carbon sink
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Terrestrial ecosystems currently sequester around a third of anthropogenic carbon emitted each year, slowing the pace of climate change. However, the future of this sink under rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations remains uncertain, in part due to the impact that nutrient limitation may have on plant biomass. Here, we review plant nutrient acquisition strategies and evidence of the enhanced utilization of these strategies under experimental and real-world elevated CO2 (eCO2). Many of the strategies that are key to nutrient limitation alleviation under eCO2 are not yet well represented in Earth System Models (ESMs). A simple, data-driven analysis implies that ESMs without nutrient acquisition strategies could underestimate the land sink.
Date Issued
2025-09-01
Date Acceptance
2025-06-12
Citation
Nature Climate Change, 2025, 15 (9)
ISSN
1758-678X
Publisher
Nature Research
Journal / Book Title
Nature Climate Change
Volume
15
Issue
9
Copyright Statement
Copyright © Springer Nature Limited 2025. This is the author’s accepted manuscript made available under a CC-BY licence in accordance with Imperial’s Research Publications Open Access policy (www.imperial.ac.uk/oa-policy)
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-08-18