Droughts cause forests to stop absorbing CO₂

Trees stop photosynthesis during droughts to save water, as the process typically releases 400 water molecules for every CO₂ molecule absorbed. Consequently, forests may begin emitting more CO₂ than they sequester.

Editor's note: The article accurately synthesizes the scientific information provided.

This article is AI-generated and fact-gated. Original reporting: Phys.org