by Staff Writers Minneapolis MN (SPX) Oct 04, 2012 Plants'
ability to absorb increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air
may have been overestimated, a new University of Minnesota study
shows. The study, published this week in the journal Nature
Climate Change, shows that even though plants absorb large
amounts of carbon dioxide and actually can benefit from higher
levels of it, they may not get enough of the nutrients they need
from typical soils to absorb as much CO2 as scientists had
previously estimated. Carbon dioxide absorption is an important
factor in mitigating fossil-fuel emissions. The study, one of
only three such long-term experiments in the world, is based on
13 years of research at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science
Reserve north of the Twin Cities. U of M scientists Peter Reich
and Sarah Hobbie monitored nearly 300 open-air plots planted
with perennial grasses with varying levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide and soil nitrogen. "Rather than building a time machine
and comparing how ecosystems