Photosynthetic responses of rice - and soybean to elevated CO2 , and temperature

Carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse' gases continue to increase in the earth's atmosphere at a relatively rapid rate. Because of this, atmospheric general circulation models predict substantial increases in atmospheric temperature and changes in regional precipitation patterns by the later part of this century.. . Scientific evidence already indicates that the earth's near-surface temperature has increased about 0.6°C just over the past three decades. Both [CO 2 ] and Itemperature influence a myriad of biological processes in plants largely due to the effect they have on gas exchange and carbon metabolism. The interactive effects of these environmental factors on plant processes are quite complex and often vary among species. Agronomic crops that initially fix carbon by the C 3 photosynthetic pathway, are expected to be