INCREASED RESPIRATORY CHANNELS. “The large fall in CO2 corresponded with a marked rise in the stomatal density of vascular land plants, with densities increasing a 100-fold from 5–10mm (-2) on early vascular plant axes to 800–1000 mm (-2) on the cuticles of late Carboniferous megaphylls.”
http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/96/3/345.full.pdf