An article published in Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology, 48, 609–639, titled “More efficient plants: a consequence of rising atmospheric CO2?” attempts to answer that question by using various data gathered from previous studies. Conducted by Drake B.G., Gonzàlez-Meler M.A., and Long S.P., the research aims to analyze the collected data with conclusions made from other literature to give explanation to the questions: Why does the rise of CO2 level increase resource-use efficiency for plants and what are the implications of this increased efficiency?

The effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide (Ca) on plants gives knowledge to what is expected in the future if the trend of rising CO2 continues. The article concludes that rising Ca, in general, causes plants to use resources more efficiently. Increase in photosynthesis, light-use efficiency, water use efficiency, and nutrient-use efficiency were all present in an environment of elevated Ca. It also reduces transpiration and stomatal conductance. There more efficient plants as a consequence of elevated atmospheric CO2, in terms of higher carbon assimilation per unit of water lost, per unit nitrogen content, and per unit absorb light.

The type of data the was obtained to answer the questions was physiological traits. The research surveyed studies as a means to collect physiological traits of plants exposed to elevated Ca and with those that were not exposed to elevated Ca. With the collected data, species with its given environment were able to be compared with each other to draw physiological differences.

The research approached “efficiency” of plants in many angles and provided meaningful information. Efficiency was evaluated in terms of water, nutrient, and light. Limitation of the study were discussed which gave a more thorough insight. An example of this is the research’s response to situation where there was a lack of response to elevated Ca. and that it states that is was unclear whether it was caused by specific genes of the plants or because of the effects of high humidity on the stomata. The research presented unanswered questions and that some statements lacked evidence conclude. Suggestions to future studies to answer these questions would have been a good addition to the paper. Overall, however, the research was executed very well. The analysis of multiple studies and the reasoning of the use of data give very substantial information to the effects of Ca on plants.