Climate: Do fungi drive the forest carbon cycle?

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Bob Berwyn
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A mushroom and spruce seedling grow intertwined in a Colorado forest. Bob Berwyn photo.

In some forests, up to 70 percent of carbon sequestration happens deep underground

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Humble mushrooms may play a much greater role in regulating forest carbon cycles than previously understood, according to new research from Sweden.

Most scientific literature suggests that the plant matter in northern forests is responsible for sequestering atmospheric carbon, but after carefully analyzing numerous soil samples, the Swedish scientists concluded that mycorrhizal fungi, which live in association with plant roots, are trapping the carbon deep in the ground as part of the process of nutrient exchange between the fungi and plant species. (more…)

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Environment: USGS researchers quantify carbon sequestration in western ecosystems

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Forests, grasslands play important role in carbon cycle

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New study to help inform resource management. Bob Berwyn photo.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Western forests, grasslands, shrublands and other ecosystems sequester about 100 million tons of carbon each year, equivalent to about 5 percent of the nation’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report released this week by the U.S. Department of Interior.

“This important study confirms the major role that our natural landscapes have in absorbing carbon and helping to counter-balance the nation’s carbon emissions,” said Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes. “This kind of groundbreaking science not only will help us be more effective stewards of our lands, but it also helps reveal how our forests, wetlands and rangelands in the West — and throughout the nation — are positively impacting the carbon cycle.” (more…)

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Study shows ocean acidification impacts to sea snails

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Corrosive waters in Southern Ocean destroying pteropod shells

Pteropods swimming in the Scotia Sea. Photo courtesy British Antarctic Survey.

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Numerous lab experiments have already shown that some shell-forming ocean species will likely suffer as the ocean absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide and becomes increasingly acidic.

Now, a new study based on 2008 research in the Scotia Sea shows that the shells of tiny marine snails called pteropods are already being dissolved by ocean acidification where atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the sea is exacerbating acidic conditions resulting from upwelling of cold water from deep below the surface.

The tiny animals are a valuable food source for fish and birds and play an important role in the oceanic carbon cycle. Pteropods are open-ocean animals, moving about by using water wings that evolved from their snail feet. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, climate and weather, Environment, global warming, Marine biology, ocean conservation | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Small fish make big splash in ocean carbon cycle

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Fish poop.

Research team studies role of forage fish in sequestering carbon

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A still-popular first-grade book described the heroic efforts of a small fish to make a big splash. Now, it turns out that Arty’s dream wasn’t all that farfetched.

According to a new study by scientists with Rutgers University and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, forage fish like anchovies can play an important role as a biological pump in the cycle that moves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the depths of the ocean, where its sequestered without adding to heat-trapping woes of atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Dr. Grace Saba, of Rutgers University, and professor Deborah Steinberg, of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, shifted their focus away from their long-term studies of copepods to looking at anchovies in the Santa Barbara Channel, off the California coast. (more…)

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Global warming: Otters, kelp and CO2

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A kelp forest. Photo via Wikipedia and the Creative Commons.

Managing for intact ecosystems could help mitigate greenhouse gas impacts

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY —Maintaining healthy sea otter populations could put a dent in the seemingly unstoppable build-up of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to a pair of  UC Santa Cruz researchers.

Of course, the new study doesn’t suggest that otters alone can stem the tide of global warming, but shows how maintaining functional natural ecosystems could play a role in mitigating the effects of greenhouse gases.

Here’s how it works: Otters control sea urchin populations. Sea urchins eat kelp, and fast-growing kelp is very efficient at absorbing CO2. After studying 40 years of data on otters and kelp bloom from Vancouver Island to the western edge of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, the researchers found that spreading kelp can absorb as much as 12 times the amount of CO2 from the atmosphere than if it were subject to ravenous sea urchins. (more…)

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Climate: Oceans and forests have doubled their carbon uptake in the past 50 years

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Researchers say they don’t expect the trend shows Earth’s carbon cycle is out of balance

A CU Boulder study offers some surprising conclusions on the global carbon cycle.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A new study by University of Colorado scientists suggests that the world’s oceans and forests have doubled their carbon uptake in the past 50 years, lessening the impact of greenhouse gases on the planet’s climate.

The study was led by CU-Boulder postdoctoral researcher Ashley Ballantyne, who looked at global CO2 emissions reports from the past 50 years and compared them with rising levels of CO2 in Earth’s atmosphere during that time, primarily because of fossil fuel burning.

“What we are seeing is that the Earth continues to do the heavy lifting by taking up huge amounts of carbon dioxide, even while humans have done very little to reduce carbon emissions,” said Ballantyne. “How long this will continue, we don’t know.” (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Environment, global warming | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Climate: Ocean currents play key role in capturing carbon

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Currents are pathways for carbon capture in Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean is critical carbon sink.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Carbon isn’t uniformly absorbed in the Southern Ocean, but is drawn down and locked away from the atmosphere by plunging currents a thousand kilometers wide, according to a team of British and Australian scientists.

Winds, currents and massive whirlpools that carry warm and cold water around the ocean — known as eddies — create localized pathways, or funnels, for carbon to be stored.

 

The Southern Ocean is an important carbon sink in the world. About 40 percent of the annual global CO2 emissions absorbed by the world’s oceans are captured in this region.

“The Southern Ocean is a large window by which the atmosphere connects to the interior of the ocean below. Until now we didn’t know exactly the physical processes of how carbon ends up being stored deep in the ocean,” said Dr. Jean-Baptiste Sallée, of British Antarctic Survey. “Now that we have an improved understanding of the mechanisms for carbon draw-down we are better placed to understand the effects of changing climate and future carbon absorption by the ocean,” he said. (more…)

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Global warming: Pinpointing permafrost methane emissions

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

USGS researchers make ground-based permafrost measurements in Alaska.

New study will generate important data on Arctic carbon cycle

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Methane emissions from Arctic landscapes remain one of the big wild cards in the global warming deck, with some dire predictions that methane from melting permafrost could significantly increase warming.

There has been relatively little sampling in the area, but a research mission led by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences has recently completed airborne measurements that will help establish a baseline for methane and calculate future increases. (more…)

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Colorado: Coal still king in Summit County energy mix

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The Four Corners coal power plant. Photo courtesy EcoFlight.org. Click to track Ecoflight state by state.

70 percent of the power for the local area derived from dirty fossil fuels

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Despite small-scale hyperlocal efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the local area still relies on coal to a much larger degree than the national average, according to an online EPA clean energy tracker.

The calculations, based on data from 2009, show that, for Frisco’s 80443 zip code, coal accounts for 67.8 percent of the energy used in the area. The national average is 44.5 percent. (more…)

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Climate: study sets baseline on Arctic Ocean carbon cycle

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Extensive sampling will help assess future changes

How will climate change affect the carbon cycle in the Arctic Ocean? IMAGE COURTESY NASA.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — As the Earth’s atmosphere warms and oceans become more acidic, the carbon cycle has become the subject of intense study for climate scientists. And new research by researchers with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution that establishes a baseline for Arctic ocean carbon levels should provide a yardstick against which to measure future changes.

The study, recently published in the journal Biogeosciences, will help researchers better understand how carbon enters and is used by the marine ecosystem.

Some researchers think that global warming could lead to  a more intense precipitation cycle over northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, resulting in more runoff from melting permafrost and eroded soil — both rich sources of organic carbon. That could result in a net gain of carbon, as bacteria in Arctic Ocean use the new influx of carbon as a food source, they may create CO2 as a byproduct.

“Carbon is the currency of life. Where carbon is coming from, which organisms are using it, how they’re giving off carbon themselves—these things say a lot about how an ocean ecosystem works,” said lead author David Griffith. “If warming temperatures perturb the Arctic Ocean, the way that carbon cycles through that system may change.” (more…)

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