THE BIOLOGIST APPRENTICE
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Podcast
  • Support
  • Press
  • Contact

What Role Do Beavers Play in Climate Change?

7/14/2013

0 Comments

 
Imagen

When it comes to transforming their environment, beavers have a lot in common with humans. They clear-cut trees and build dams to block streams, in the process radically altering the world around them. Now, it appears that beavers play a complex role in climate change, too. A new study suggests that beaver dams and the sediments corralled behind them sequester carbon, temporarily keeping greenhouse gases containing the element out of the atmosphere. But when the animals abandon these sites, the carbon leaks back out, contributing to global warming.


In recent fieldwork in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park, Wohl studied the wetlands and floodplains upstream of beaver dams—areas collectively called "beaver meadows"—along 27 streams draining watersheds covering more than 700 square kilometers. She analyzed the carbon content of 29 samples of sediment collected along two of the larger waterways (one of which included remnants of 148 beaver dams, and the other had 100). Then, she combined these data with results from previous research to estimate the carbon content of beaver meadows throughout the region. Altogether, beaver meadows occupied about one-quarter of the total length of major streams in these watersheds, she notes.


Because the water table is elevated behind an intact beaver dam, oxygen can't get to much of the wood and other organic matter buried in sediments there, so it decomposes more slowly. In fact, Wohl says, wood buried in soggy beaver meadows can last about 600 years—longer than a typical log that falls in the forest. But when the water table drops and the soils dry out, decomposition begins to release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

In work published last year, Wohl and her colleagues found that sediment upstream of active beaver dams in the park contained about 12% carbon by weight, most of it locked in wood. But in research to be published in a forthcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letters, Wohl reports that, on average, only 3.3% of the sediments in abandoned beaver meadows is carbon.

Source: Sciencema

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Blog Archive
    ​
    This blog isn't active anymore
    ​Disclaimer

    All the pictures on this blog and social networks belong to their respective authors and proper credits are given. Photos are used for illustrative and educational purposes only.

    Todas las fotografías de este blog y redes sociales son propiedad de sus respectivos autores, se mencionan los respectivos créditos. Estas fotos son únicamente utilizadas con fines ilustrativos y educativos.


    Archives

    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    July 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Videos
  • Podcast
  • Support
  • Press
  • Contact