Responses of Humid Tropical Trees to Rising CO₂

Although no mature tropical tree had ever been exposed to an experimentally CO 2 -enriched atmosphere, evidence from works with seedlings and saplings, theory, models, and proxy data suggest effects on biodiversity and enhanced forest dynamics. Tropical forest carbon stocking is unlikely to increase, given that carbon pool size is driven by tree and patch demography, with tree longevity unlikely to increase. Unlike epiphytes, tropical lianas are likely to play a more important role in a CO 2 -rich future.