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Efforts to replenish the small stocks of large wild mammals do not only benefit the flora and fauna. In addition, they can help combat climate change, for example by increasing carbon capture in ecosystems. This finding attracts a group of ecologists from higher education institutions from several countries, including the SLU, in a review of existing research literature. The article was published today in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
During the first half of the 20th century, the number of goats in Serengeti reached record levels due to a massive outbreak of livestock pests. Beginning in 1960, the gnome population began to recover and their bite improved soil fertility and reduced the incidence of fires in the savannah. An American study showed that the effect was so powerful that the return of Gnun turned the soil into a carbon sink. In the vast plains that were once a source of carbon dioxide emissions, the amount of carbon dioxide stored is now greater than that released, to the extent that it offsets much of the annual emissions of carbon dioxide. East Africa via fossil fuels.
Restoration of mammal populations
Historical losses of large mammal populations (> 40 kg) are increasingly associated with large-scale changes in the functioning of the soil. Restoring ecological functions in a region by restoring populations of large locally extinct or severely weakened mammals is called rewilding, "confusion". The article presented by ecologists from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the University of Utrechts, Nelson Mandela University and the University New Mexico provides compelling evidence that "mitigation measures" can have a moderating effect on climate change carbon dioxide in ecosystems.
Large animals shed large seeds
"Another striking example is the role of large mammals in spreading seeds of tropical deciduous trees," says Joris Cromsigt, an ecologist at the SLU and at the University of Utrecht and author of l & # 39; section. The longer the tree layer is hard, the more the tree will have coal. But the more you know, the bigger the seeds, the larger the mammals are important for seed propagation.
– New research shows that losses of large mammals can lead to a 10% reduction in carbon dioxide storage in tropical forests in some parts of the world. The restoration and preservation of tropical forests is a common strategy to combat global warming and it seems that "dilution" can make this strategy even more effective.
Battery prevents thawing permafrost
Cromsigt gives a third example:
– In northern latitudes, a lot of coal is stored in celery soil, permafrost. During global warming, permafrost tends to release significant amounts of greenhouse gases. One of the effects of warming is that shrubs are becoming an increasingly common feature of the tundra and that darker shrubs absorb more solar heat than the grass, which speeds up the melting of permafrost and leads to increased warming. Large mammals of the northern fauna, for example pure, the horse of myskox and przewalski, can counter the disorder of the tundra. Reintroducing these mammals where they have disappeared can also help to combat global warming.
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Joris Cromsigt
University Professor at the Department of Wildlife, Fish and the Environment
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umea
070-676 00 97, [email protected]
Joris Cromsigt is also attached to the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and to Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.
article
Joris Cromsigt, Mariska te Beest, Graham Kerley, Marietjie Landman, Elizabeth Le Roux, Felisa A. Smith. 2018. Rewilding trophhic as a strategy for mitigating climate change? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 373: 20170440.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0440
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