As a long-term commentator on agriculture and climate change, with articles dating back to 1987, I enjoyed reading this small-paged book. At the outset, it recognizes its limitations, focusing on atmospheric carbon dioxide as the main driver of anthropogenic climate change, and analysing the interactions with temperature and water availability on the growth of terrestrial vascular plants. Consult elsewhere for consideration of topics such as marine and freshwater plants; lower plants: other greenhouse gases; soils; photosynthesis; the manifold effects of population growth, changing lifestyles and diets on agriculture and natural habitats; and, crucially, potential technological fixes to address various climate-change challenges facing humanity. Its title therefore lacks specificity.

There are nine overlapping chapters: 1. Recent and future climate changes and their implications for plant growth (D. Viner, J.I.L. Morison and C. Wallace); 2. Plant responses to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (L.H. Ziska and J. A. Bruce); 3. Signifiance of temperature in plant life (C. Korner); 4. Temperature and plant development; phenology and seasonality (A. Menzel and T. Sparks); 5. Responses of plant growth and functioning to changes in water supply in a changing climate (W.J. Davies); 6. Water availability and productivity (J.S. Pereira, M-M. Chaves, M-C. Caldeira and A.V. Correia); 7. Effects of temperature and precipitation changes on plant communities (M.D. Morecroft and J.S. Paterson); 8. Issues in modelling plant ecosystem responses to elevated carbon dioxide: interactions with soil nitrogen (Y-P Wang, R. McMurtrie, B. Medlyn and D. Pepper); 9. Predicting the effect of climate change on global plant productivity and the carbon cycle (J. Grace and R. Zhang). All are worthy.