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Ces gros troncs absorbent davantage de carbone que les petites plantes.

Ces gros troncs absorbent davantage de carbone que les petites plantes.
These thick trunks absorb more carbon than small plants.
From Lesson 419:Comparative quantifiers (davantage de / plus de)·French

Questions & Answers about Ces gros troncs absorbent davantage de carbone que les petites plantes.

Could I use plus de carbone instead of davantage de carbone in this sentence?
Yes, you could! Plus de and davantage de are completely interchangeable when talking about quantities of a noun (like carbone). Davantage just sounds a little more formal or literary than plus.
Are there situations where I must use plus instead of davantage?
Yes. While both work perfectly before nouns (like davantage de carbone) or after verbs, you cannot use davantage before an adjective or an adverb. For example, if you wanted to say the trunks were "thicker" (plus gros), you couldn't say davantage gros.
Why is there an article (les) before petites plantes when the English translation just says "small plants"?
In French, when you are talking about general categories or entire classes of things—like "small plants" as a general concept here—you must use the definite article (le, la, or les). English drops "the" in these cases, but French always requires it.
Why does the sentence use gros for "thick" rather than épais?
Gros is generally used for objects that are thick because they have a large volume or circumference, like a tree trunk, a rock, or a finger. Épais is usually reserved for flat things that have depth or density, like a wall, a book, or a forest.

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