Scientists say many plants don't respond to warming as thought

Plants, like people, breathe, and when it gets hotter, they breathe harder. One product of respiration is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Thus, researchers predict that as the planet is warmed by human-produced CO2, plants may add to the emissions, and amplify the warming. Now, the most comprehensive global study of its kind yet suggests that this effect has limits, and that increases in plant respiration may not be as big as previously estimated. It shows that rates of increase slow in an easily predictable way as temperatures mount, in every region of earth, from tropics to tundra. The newly defined curve leads to sharply reduced estimates of respiration, especially in the coldest regions.

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