AriadneSome good #climate news! "Herd of 170 #bison could help store #CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say - Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing #carbon stored in the soil while grazing"
...
"The latest research, which has not been peer-reviewed, used a new model developed by scientists at the #Yale School of the #Environment and funded by the Global #Rewilding Alliance. It calculates the additional amount of atmospheric CO2 that #wildlife species help to capture and store in #soils through their interactions within #ecosystems. The European bison herd grazing in an area of nearly 50 sq km of grasslands within the wider Țarcu mountains, was found to potentially capture an additional 2m tonnes of carbon a year. That is nearly 9.8 times more than without the bison – although the report authors noted the 9.8 figure could be up to 55% higher or lower, given the uncertainty around the median estimate. This corresponds to the yearly CO2 emissions of 1.88m average US petrol cars."
...
"The report on Romania’s European bison is “the first of its kind”, said Sylvén, adding that the model provided “a very powerful tool at hand to give directions to wildlife reintroductions”.
Schmitz said the team had looked at nine species in detail, including #tropical #forest #elephants, musk oxen and sea #otters, and had begun to investigate others. He added: “Many of them show similar promise to these bison, often doubling an ecosystem’s capacity to draw down and store #carbon, and sometimes much more. This really is a policy option with massive potential.”
#ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateEmergency #Romania #Klima #Klimakrise #CarbonDioxide #Emissions
