Study reveals enhanced photosynthesis and growth under elevated CO2 and nutrient enrichment, suggesting potential for carbon sequestration.
With atmospheric CO 2 concentrations rising due to emissions from industrial point sources such as coal combustion and steel manufacturing, scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies are needed. Photosynthetic carbon fixation by plants presents a promising, sustainable approach. While elevated CO 2 (eCO 2 ) is known to modulate plant traits, the dynamics of carbon conversion under such conditions remain insufficiently understood. The interactive effects of eCO 2 , nutrient availability, and temperature are investigated on plant growth and carbon sequestration capacity. The results show that eCO 2 enhances relative growth rate (RGR) and carbon conversion efficiency, with an optimal response observed at 2000 ppm CO 2 . Beyond this threshold, at 3000 ppm, photosynthetic gains declined, indicating inhibitory effects of CO 2 oversaturation. Nutrient enrichment under optimal eCO 2 conditions further stimulated biomass production, particularly in shoot tissues, yet do not significantly alter carbon conversion rates, suggesting a plateau in photosynthetic capacity. Elevated temperatures similarly promoted growth and fixation rates up to a thermal optimum, beyond which photosynthetic efficiency declined. These findings demonstrate the potential and limitations of plant‐based bio‐fixation under future climate scenarios, highlighting its viability as a natural CDR pathway within defined environmental bounds.
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Jeong et al. (2025) studied this question.
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