Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity’s carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.

“We found that trees in warmer, drier climates are essentially coughing instead of breathing,” said Max Lloyd, assistant professor of geosciences at Penn State and lead author on the study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “They are sending CO2 right back into the atmosphere far more than trees in cooler, wetter conditions.”

Read more: Trees struggle to ‘breathe’ as climate warms, researchers find | Penn State University (psu.edu)