What is a potential drawback of reduced transpiration rates in plants exposed to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The prompt provides a question and indicates a single selected answer, but the list of answer options is empty. Because the options are missing, I cannot systematically evaluate each alternative as the instruction would normally require. I will nonetheless analyze the provided proposed drawback to offer educational context about the topic.

Question: What is a potential drawback of reduced transpiration rates in plants exposed to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations?

Provided answer (interpreted as the proposed drawback): Heat accumulation within the plant.

Analysis of the concept: When plants experience elevated atmospheric CO2, stomatal conductance often decreases. This reduction in stomatal opening lowers transpiration rates, which in turn reduces the plant’s evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling is an important mechanism by which leaves shed heat. If transpiration is reduced, the leaf temperature can rise, potentially leading to heat stress or decreased photosynthetic efficiency, especially under high light and heat conditions. This makes heat accumulation a plausible drawback in such scenarios.

Why this could be correct: The concept hinges on the link between transpiration and leaf cooling. Less water loss through stomata means less latent heat loss, so under heat stress conditions the plant may overheat, impairing enzyme function and metabolic processes.

Why this could be incorrect or incomplete: Not all consequences of elevated CO2 and reduced transpiration are strictly about heat buildup. For example, reduced transpiration can also improve water use efficiency, allowing plants to maintain turgor with less water loss. Additionally, the magnitude of heat buildup depends on environmental conditions (light intensity, ambient temperature, humidity) and plant anatomy. In some contexts, other drawbacks such as altered nutrient transport, changed leaf temperature dynamics, or impacts on photosynthetic rate could be more limiting than heat accumulation alone.

Given that the answer options were not provided, a full comparison across all choices is not possible here. If you provide the complete set of options, I can give a detailed, option-by-option analysis that mirrors this approach and clearly indicates why each choice is correct or incorrect.

AGRI20037_2025_SM2 11. Climate Change

What is a potential drawback of reduced transpiration rates in plants exposed to elevated carbon dioxide concentrations?

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