Future drought will offset benefits of higher CO2 on soybean yields, study finds
Monday, September 5, 2016 - 10:01
in Earth & Climate
An eight-year study of soybeans grown outdoors in a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere like that expected by 2050 has yielded a new and worrisome finding: Higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations will boost plant growth under ideal growing conditions, but drought - expected to worsen as the climate warms and rainfall patterns change - will outweigh those benefits and cause yield losses much sooner than anticipated.