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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Menacing ‘famine weed’ grows more toxic as carbon levels soar

A highly invasive weed might owe some of its success to easier access to carbon, a key component of the weed’s toxin.
Parthenium hysterophorus

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere might have hastened the spread of famine weed, one of the most destructive invasive species on Earth. Credit: Shutterstock

Rising carbon-dioxide emissions have allowed a dangerous, invasive plant to become even more toxic, which might have helped it to push into new territory.

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Nature 594, 304 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01539-1

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