Insects take a bigger bite out of plants in a higher CO2 world

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Plant defenses go down as carbon dioxide levels go up the researchers found. Soybeans grown at elevated CO2 levels attract many more adult Japanese beetles than plants grown at current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Credit: Photo courtesy of Evan ...
Plant defenses go down as carbon dioxide levels go up, the researchers found. Soybeans grown at elevated CO2 levels attract many more adult Japanese beetles than plants grown at current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Credit: Photo courtesy of Evan Delucia

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are rising at an alarming rate, and new research indicates that soybean plant defenses go down as CO2 goes up. Elevated CO2 impairs a key component of the plant’s defenses against leaf-eating insects, according to the report. The University of Illinois study appears this week online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


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