The carbon stored globally by plants is shorter-lived and more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, according to a new study. The findings have implications for the role of flora in mitigating climate change, including the potential for vegetation-based carbon removal projects such as mass tree-planting.

The international study, published last week in Science, was led by Heather Graven at Imperial College London and co-authored by a scientist at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR).

The research reveals that existing climate models underestimate the amount of carbon dioxide that is taken up by vegetation globally each year, while overestimating how long that carbon remains there. Although carbon is taken up by plants quicker than expected, it is locked up for a shorter time, meaning carbon from human activities will be released back into the atmosphere sooner than previously predicted.

The scientists analyzed plant uptake of radiocarbon (¹⁴C), a radioactive isotope of carbon that reached higher atmospheric levels during nuclear bomb testing in the 1950s and 1960s. They used the land component of the NSF NCAR–based Community Earth System Model 2 to simulate how plants process carbon dioxide at a global scale, unlocking valuable insights into the interaction between the atmosphere and the biosphere.

“Scientists and policymakers need improved estimates of historical land carbon uptake to inform projections of this critical ecosystem service in future decades,” said NSF NCAR scientist Will Wieder, a co-author who helped facilitate the study’s data interpretation and analyses. “Our study provides critical insights into terrestrial carbon cycle dynamics, which can inform models that are used for climate change projections.”

For more, see the Imperial College London news release.

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