Plant life plays a crucial role in fighting climate change by absorbing and transforming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Plant life plays a crucial role in fighting climate change by absorbing and transforming greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. For instance, over its lifetime, a tree can absorb more than a ton of carbon from the air and store it in wood and roots.
But here’s an interesting finding: A recent study published in Nature Geoscience suggests that moss, those tiny plants we often see on the ground or rocks, might also be an important antidote to climate change.
Led by drylands ecologist David Eldridge of the University of New South Wales in Australia and ecosystem ecologist Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo of the Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla in Spain, the study uncovered evidence that mosses have the potential to store a massive amount of carbon in the soil beneath them.
Co-authors include University of Michigan forest ecologist Peter Reich, director of the Institute for Global Change Biology at the School for Environment and Sustainability.
Read more at University of Michigan
Photo Credit: ioa8320 via Pixabay
