Study on global plant die-off faces questions

Publish Date: August 25, 2011
Article Source: AFP

"A study on plant productivity that said drought and global warming were killing off plants worldwide is now being questioned by scientists, according to research published Thursday.

"Lead author Arindam Samanta, a graduate of Boston University who is now at Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts, said the initial study's model was based on data from a decade when temperatures were on the rise.

"'Their model has been tuned to predict lower productivity even for very small increases in temperature. Not surprisingly, their results were preordained,' said Samanta."

Read the research article in Science: Comment on “Drought-Induced Reduction in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 2000 Through 2009”.