Plants growing in drylands do double duty for the planet. Dryland plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the same way as other vegetation, but they do so under extreme challenges that include high air temperatures, low soil moisture and intense evaporation, all of which suppress growth and limit carbon sequestration, as highlighted in a 2024 Nature Sustainability News & Views article on cooling crops with selective films. These limitations mean the landscape's overall contribution to carbon sequestration falls well short of its potential: the more heat- and drought-stressed a plant is, the less it grows, and the less it grows, the less carbon it can absorb. Shading seems like an obvious fix, but common shade cloths or plastic sheets also block the sunlight that crops need for photosynthesis.
A three-layer film splits light into what plants need and what they don't
