The more we examine the impact of climate change on our planet, the more we realize that fighting this crisis will not be a shared responsibility.
Amid the mounting challenges within the history of climate change, there are sometimes forgotten heroes. Today, animals are joining the fight against the climate crisis in amazing and unexpected ways.
Through the best way they eat and behave, they play a task in drawing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it, which in turn helps keep the worldwide climate system stable. As populations of those species grow, they may have a big impact on the environmental balance of our Earth.
In this text we explore how these animals, each with their very own unique characteristics, contribute to the increasingly urgent challenge of climate change.
1. Tapir
Despite having a pig-like body and short elephant-like trunk, tapirs play a vital role in revitalizing degraded rainforests. They eat a wide range of fruits and spread seeds of their droppings, which then grow into plants.
Studies show that tapirs cause thrice more seed dispersal in degraded forest areas than in intact forests. This natural regeneration process is one of the vital economical and effective ways to revive tropical forests.
Scientists have identified 24 different species of seeds in tapir feces. Many of those seeds grow into large trees in forests, which then help absorb more carbon from the atmosphere, helping to slow global warming.
2. Sea otters
Sea otters are one in all the species that play a vital role as guardians of kelp forests beneath the water’s surface. These kelp forests are very effective at absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and using it to grow underwater leafy structures. However, kelp forests are vulnerable to attacks by predators similar to sea urchins, which may destroy them within the absence of predators. Sea otters are the important predators that control sea urchin populations.
One study found that kelp forests protected by sea otters can sequester as much as 12 times more carbon dioxide than those who don’t, with potential carbon sequestration estimated at roughly $200–400 million per yr.
3. Bison
Historically, the role of huge mammals similar to bison in grassland ecosystems has been significant. Not only are these mammals accountable for grazing grasses, but their hooves help rejuvenate the soil by pushing native plant seeds, in addition to weeds and dead plants, into the soil, creating recent life.
More interestingly, bison droppings contain high concentrations of nitrogen, a nutrient essential for plant growth that increases soil fertility while they graze. Both their excrement and urine provide invaluable nutrients to the soil, after which migrate to other pastures, due to which the pastures where they grazed could rest and regenerate in time.
4. Wolves and moose
Wolves have a big impact on the boreal ecosystem. Although moose are primary herbivores, their weight-reduction plan of tree shoots and leaves also influences forest composition and soil microbes. Interestingly, the presence of healthy wolves within the forest affects moose weight-reduction plan and abundance through predation, which in turn changes the best way moose interact with the boreal plant community. This results in changes in forest composition and a rise in tree biomass, which in turn increases carbon storage in plants and soil.
As a result, the presence of wolves within the boreal forest is estimated to extend carbon storage by 46 to 99 million tons in comparison with the absence of wolves. This corresponds to the annual tailpipe emissions of 33 to 71 million cars. By maintaining the balance between prey and prey, your entire ecosystem advantages, including us.
5. Elephants
African forest elephants, the smallest of the three elephant species, live within the Congolese rainforest and are sometimes called “Congolese gardeners” because they clear away vegetation in quest of food. While looking for seeds, fruits and leaves in dense forest, African forest elephants also inadvertently attack and trample fast-growing bushes, giving slower-growing trees a probability to thrive.
According to economist Ralph Chami, each African forest elephant sequesters greater than 9,000 tons of carbon in its lifetime, providing carbon sequestration services value $150 billion annually.
Not only elephants, but rhinos and other giant herbivores also play a task in spreading and planting the seeds of carbon-rich trees. Without the assistance of those forest-dwelling animals, some tropical forest ecosystems could lose their ability to store carbon. Threats to a lot of these species include habitat loss and poaching.
6. Whales
As the biggest mammal on Earth, whales can absorb roughly 33 tons of carbon of their lifetime. By comparison, a typical tree absorbs only about 48 tons of CO2 emissions per yr, or about 22 kilograms. When a whale dies, its carcass sinks to the underside of the ocean and stays there for hundreds of years, storing carbon that was previously within the atmosphere.
And that is not all. In fact, whale excrement also plays a vital role. Whale excrement serves as fertilizer for phytoplankton, which repeatedly draws ten gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere into the depths of the ocean yearly. Although these phytoplankton are very small, together they capture about 40% of all carbon dioxide within the marine environment, which is about 4 times greater than the quantity that the Amazon forest can absorb.
Unfortunately, the whale population has declined significantly as a consequence of pollution and hunting. If the whale population could return to levels of 4-5 million, it could end in the sequestration of roughly 1.7 billion tons of carbon per yr.
7. Sharks
Sharks help marine ecosystems by providing essential nutrients to shallow waters. They do that by feeding on deep-sea organisms after which swimming to shallow waters to defecate, enriching the nutrients there. For example, gray reef sharks act as nitrogen transporters, carrying these nutrients from deep waters, where they feed on shallow coral reefs through their excrement.
Another example is tiger sharks in Australia, which chase turtles away from underwater seagrass beds to forestall the turtles from eating an excessive amount of seagrass. Seagrasses play a vital role as a store of blue carbon, carbon absorbed by marine ecosystems around the globe. Seagrasses form dense underwater meadows that may absorb carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) from the atmosphere. Decreased shark populations mean an increased risk of turtles damaging seagrasses, and when seagrasses are damaged, they release blue carbon and contribute to global warming.
Additionally, shark bodies themselves are a source of blue carbon, carbon stored in marine and coastal ecosystems around the globe. About 10-15% of a shark’s body is carbon. When sharks die naturally, their bodies sink to the underside of the ocean together with the carbon they contain. This carbon can remain within the ocean depths for hundreds and even thousands and thousands of years. However, when sharks are overfished, much of the carbon escapes the ocean and enters our atmosphere.
Reference:
- How sharks keep our oceans healthy. (2022, July 12). IFAW. https://www.ifaw.org/journal/sharks-keep-oceans-healthy
- Jean Schueman, L. (2023, March 20). Five animals and their option to fight climate change. One Earth. https://www.oneearth.org/five-animals-and-how-they-fight-climate-change/#:~:text=Did%20you%20know%20that%20African
- Labbe, N. (2021, May 25). Beef and bison might help fight climate change. Nature Conservator. https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/stories-in-mn-nd-sd/beef-bison-help-fight-climate-change/
- McHugh, J. (2022, July 13). Once almost extinct, bisons at the moment are climate heroes. Washington Post Office. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/07/13/bison-buffalo-oklahoma-extinct-climate-change/
- Sherry, J. (2021, May 21). How wolves and other wild animals help us fight for the climate. www.nrdc.org. https://www.nrdc.org/bio/jennifer-sherry/how-wolves-and-other-wildlife-help-us-fight-climate
- Farah, N. (2022, January 19). How whales might help us fight climate change. EcoNusa. https://econusa.id/en/ecodefender/peran-paus-lawan-perubahan-iklim/
