# How much CO2 does a tree absorb in a day ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 8, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546 "2016-04-08T15:01:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546/21 "2016-04-14T12:51:32Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > The USDA Forest Service has done or collected research. It’s easier to see the [conclusions they’ve drawn](http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/carbon/tools/) than the research. But here’s a[list of papers](http://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/urban-forests-and-climate-change) related to “urban forests.” They may be internal rather than peer reviewed. > > There are several [online or downloadable calculators](http://www.coolcalifornia.org/urban-vegetation-resources) meant to calculate carbon sequestration. The calculator that you have to use if you’re trying to get an urban greening type grant is the [CUFR Tree Carbon Calculator (CTCC).](http://www.fs.usda.gov/ccrc/tools/tree-carbon-calculator-ctcc) Inputs include the type of tree and the climate zone - trees grow faster in warmer weather. > > Like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, if it is wrong, it is definitively wrong. For some grant programs, your application will live or die according to its CTCC results vs. cost. According to the linked page “Updated versions of the underlying growth equations used in the model are becoming available.” I have no idea whether the equations became available or where they would be. Thank you Yllaria - thats the info I was looking for. Mods you may close the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546/22 "2016-04-14T17:55:42Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Would it also depend upon the CO2 levels in the area? For example a tree in a forest out in a pristine area might be lower but a high planted next to a highway could pick up more. I don’t know if that would affect the local CO2 concentration very much. Atmospheric CO2 concentration isn’t that big of a factor in plant growth, anyway. Their growth is more often limited by the availability of nutrients such as phosphate or organic nitrogen. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546/23 "2016-04-14T19:51:32Z")
Well, it can be a factor. My mom was involved in a greenhouse project once where the greenhouse was too well-sealed (to hold in heat), and the lack of CO[sub]2[/sub] did turn out to be the limiting factor on plant growth inside. But yeah, that’s pretty rare. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546/24 "2016-04-15T08:42:23Z")
Bear in mind, though, that greenhouse plants are generally coddled with fertilizer etc., so their growth is likely to have a different limiting factor than wild plants. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546/25 "2016-04-15T16:47:39Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I don’t know if that would affect the local CO2 concentration very much. Atmospheric CO2 concentration isn’t that big of a factor in plant growth, anyway. Their growth is more often limited by the availability of nutrients such as phosphate or organic nitrogen. ‘Often’ is a kind of slippery term here, since it isn’t quantitative, but this deserves a lot of qualification. Most terrestrial plants use the C3 pathway, and these are almost always limited by carbon dioxide (as well as by the relative proportions of carbon dioxide and oxygen- the enzyme that fixes carbon is inhibited by oxygen) at very short (minutes to hours) and very long (evolutionary) time scales. If that wasn’t the case, carbon-concentrating mechanisms wouldn’t have evolved on so many different independent occasions. At intermediate time scales (e.g. the life of the plant), C3 plants are sometimes limited by nitrogen, phosphorus, extreme low or high temperature, herbivory, light, or some other factor. However, since many ecosystems (agricultural ones especially) are fertilized this wouldn’t apply to them. Any plant that is limited by water (and that’s a lot of them) is also going to be limited by CO2, because plants effectively trade CO2 for water through their stomata. This is why most plants do show a _small_ response to elevated [CO2], albeit often not as big as we would hope. CO2 limitation is also not independent of these other limitations and can help ameliorate them to some extent. A plant that has more CO2 to play with can invest less nitrogen in the carboxylating enzyme and free up its nitrogen supply, or it could invest more carbon in mycorrhizal symbiosis and free up more phosphorus that way. CO2 also can ameliorate some high temperature stress, since the carboxylating enzyme becomes less efficient at high temperature. Some systems, like corn, or like the algae that people often talk about don’t show much of a response to higher [CO2] at all, but that’s in part because corn, most cyanobacteria, etc. already have mechanisms to concentrate [CO2] within particular cells or cell compartments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-co2-does-a-tree-absorb-in-a-day/751546.md?page=1)