Plant nutrient map sheds light on carbon sinks

Natural areas that can absorb huge quantities of carbon dioxide could play a crucial role in combatting climate change. However, our ability to identify and employ these carbon sinks has been hobbled by a lack of information about where plants grow best. Now, research from Stanford University reveals a global map of areas where insufficient nutrients in the soil could limit plant growth. The study,  published  in  Nature Geoscience,  provides a new data framework for understanding plant growth and, by extension, predicting what areas of the world will be able to soak up carbon emissions in the future. "Farmers and foresters spend considerable money and time analyzing the nutrient needs of crops and trees," said study senior author  Rob Jackson , a professor of Earth system science in Stanford's  School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences  (Stanford Earth). "This study is a step toward doing that for natural forests and grasslands." The researchers focused on nitrogen and phosphorus - nutrients that plants need in large daily doses. To estimate where those nutrients are in limited supply, the researchers combined global measurements of how much plants grow with experiments looking at how plant growth is related to the nutrient supplies.