Environment
Climate change may prop up urban plant growth in the face of development—provided cities build slowly enough
Key Points
Worsened drought stress, changing rainfall patterns, flowers and pollinators thrown out of sync: These only scratch the surface of the ways climate change challenges plant life. But warmer air and higher carbon dioxide levels can also fuel faster plant growth, limit plants' water loss and extend growing seasons—enough so, in some cases, to offset the paving over of green spaces in cities.
Worsened drought stress, changing rainfall patterns, flowers and pollinators thrown out of sync: These only scratch the surface of the ways climate change challenges plant life. But warmer air and higher carbon dioxide levels can also fuel faster plant growth, limit plants' water loss and extend growing seasons—enough so, in some cases, to offset the paving over of green spaces in cities.