Climate change is changing the way natural systems around the world work and it begins to cause multiple effects. The most negative. Some are completely unexpected. The latest surprise, scientists found, Plants starting to invade the Arctic due to global warming may be creating large new carbon sinks. which would paradoxically help mitigate climate change.
Scientists have been sounding the alarm for years: Either greenhouse gas emissions stop or the future of the planet is in serious danger.. At the same time, researchers are looking for ways to contain and remove already emitted gases. A new study published in ‘Scientific Reports’ shows that at least some of the changes caused by climate change in natural ecosystems are helping in this regard.
Peat is a carbon-rich organic material that is the result of the anaerobic decomposition of dead plants. The ecosystems that host peatlands are the most productive natural carbon sinks on the planet.. they therefore keys to tackling climate change and its effects.
This fossil fuel multiple use, from heating to gardening. It even gives whiskey its ‘characteristic flavor’. The barley is dried in kilns with peat ‘bricks’, and when burned – almost without flame – it emits a very dense smoke that impregnates the seeds with a very characteristic smell and taste.
In 2018, an international research group opened soil samples at three locations around the Isfjorden fjord in Svalbard, Norway. The same phenomenon was observed in all three: mineral soil covered with a thin layer of organic matter. A layer containing a large amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis.
discovery of “protopeat”
The research group led by Minna Väliranta of the University of Helsinki, “prototurba” these organic soil depositsIt consists mainly of algae formed in increasingly warm arctic climatic conditions.
“It’s still not mafia in the full sense of the word, but you could say that. is the starting point of peat formation“, comments Valiranta.
These protopeat deposits are of great interest worldwide. Väliranta is involved in a more ambitious project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), a British institution corresponding to the Finnish Academy. This project explores the same phenomenon: if global warming caused the peat vegetation to expand northward.
This expansion of vegetation is part of a larger phenomenon known asarctic greening“, denoting the increased growth of shrubs in the Arctic, As vascular plants spread to previously barren areas from global warming.
“If this process, which produces protopeat, happens intensively, It could be in the process of creating an unexpected carbon reservoir or a plant community that mitigates climate change.‘, says Valirant.
“This reservoir was not included in the modeling of ecosystems and atmosphere because traditionally it was thought that new peatlands did not form.“, adds the researcher. Climate ecosystem models are constantly evolving, and attempts have only recently been made to incorporate the impact of peatlands into them.
carbon “snatchers”
“It could be argued that the discovery of new carbon sinks introduces a new component that needs to be considered in models. better predict ecosystem functioning in a warming climate‘, says Valiranta.
Peatlands “hold” carbon by accumulating partially decomposed organic matter (leaves, branches, fruits, roots…), molecular structure containing carbon (lignin, carbohydrates, fatty acids…).
Organic matter accumulates in peatlands because in the long run more biomass is produced than decomposes. For this to happen, it has to be special environmental conditions promotes the accumulation of organic matter.
For example, the soil must maintain conditions of overflow or water saturation over long periods and the accumulated organic matter must have a certain resistance to decomposition.
on the planet, peat bogs cover an area of close to 399 million hectares, During the Holocene, about 644 gigatons of carbon were accumulated and thus the most important reservoir of this gas in the biosphere, 1.7 times higher than the airborne biomass of all planetary forests.
It is sufficient to state the following to understand its importance. The atmosphere, soil, water and living organisms on Earth exchange more than one hundred gigatons of carbon each year.however increase in net carbon emissions added to the atmosphere is about six gigatons per yearabout 12 times the mass of all living humans.
Additionally, its ability to sequester carbon and release methane makes peatlands an important agent of climate regulation: mitigated the temperature rise on Earth for thousands of years.
Reference article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08652-9
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