Mitigating effects of well-timed rainfall on plant mortality

Global warming accelerates plant water use, increasing plant susceptibility to drought death. From this, it can be hypothesised that higher CO₂ concentrations slow plant water use, and should offset the warming effects on mortality.

Using six years of data from a field experiment, Hovenden et al. demonstrate that the timing of rainfall has a major influence on the impacts of warming and elevated CO₂ on plant mortality. Elevated CO₂ moderated the increase in mortality caused by warming, but only in years with few dry spells. The timing of wet spells is shown to be a crucial determinant of how climate change influences plant mortality.