Trees Have Another Major Climate Change Preventing Ability: Study
We all know that leaves on trees sequester CO2, taking in the carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen for us to breathe. However, experts now say, tree bark could be sucking in a large amount of another dangerous climate-related gas.
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00:00We all know that leaves on trees sequester CO2, taking in the carbon dioxide and releasing
00:08oxygen for us to breathe.
00:10However, experts now say tree bark could be sucking in a large amount of another dangerous
00:15climate-related gas.
00:17When leaves take in CO2, they undergo photosynthesis, trapping the carbon they pull out of the air
00:21in their wood and bark.
00:23And a new study has demonstrated that that very bark is taking methane out of the air.
00:28That's a tribute around a third of our planet's warming to methane.
00:31And this new find is surprising, considering wetlands have long been known to be a methane
00:35emitter.
00:36However, less research has been done into the most common kinds of forests, those which
00:40sit on dry land and soil that drains naturally.
00:43So how much is pulled out of the air already?
00:45The new study estimates that between 25 to 50 metric tons of atmospheric methane is sequestered
00:50in the bark of trees every year.
00:52Finding the tropical forests are the biggest suckers, with the researchers noting that
00:56means our planet's forests are better climate change preventers than previously thought
01:00by around 7 to 12 percent.