Post by bonnasuttadhar225588 on Feb 15, 2024 5:54:49 GMT
Amazon, Borneo, Congo or Daintree are some of the names of the largest or most famous rainforests in the world. Likewise, the size of the forests is known, such as the boreal forests that extend from Russia to Canada. But underwater forests and their importance in mitigating climate change are little considered . Hidden under the water are enormous kelp forests, which extend much further than you think, many have not even been named. Its lush canopies are home to a large number of marine species. These underwater forests are not only productive, they could also be part of the answer to carbon sequestration, according to The Guardian . What are underwater forests? Underwater forests are made up of algae. Like other plants, algae grow by capturing solar energy and carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. The largest species grow tens of meters tall, forming forest canopies that sway in an endless dance as the waves roll in, as The Conversation explains . Similar to trees on land, seaweed provides habitat, food and shelter to a wide variety of marine organisms. Large species, such as sea bamboo and giant kelp, have gas-filled structures that function like small balloons and help them create large floating canopies. Other species depend on strong stems to stay upright and support their photosynthetic leaves.
Seaweed has long been known to be among the fastest growing plants on the planet. But to date, it has been very difficult to estimate how large an area their forests cover. However, recent research suggests that underwater forests are much more extensive than previously thought, have high nutritional value for food challenges and could be important carbon sinks to mitigate Iceland Email List climate change. underwater forests Fuente: The Conversation. Underwater forests, to combat global warming Regarding this, marine ecologist Karen Filbee-Dexter, one of the authors of the study Global kelp productivity (2022), found that kelp forests are much larger than previously thought. According to research, kelp forests can act as a vital buffer against the climate crisis, absorbing carbon dioxide from seawater and the atmosphere, storing as much carbon as the Amazon rainforest. While there is still a considerable gap in understanding the long-term ability of seaweeds to sequester carbon, because they lack a root system to retain carbon in the soil, unlike other marine plants such as mangroves and seagrasses .
Whether the carbon stays locked up depends on what happens to the algae, and there is still a scientific debate about how effective they are at storing the element. For carbon from seaweed to be sequestered requires it to be locked out of the atmosphere for relatively long periods of time. Early estimates suggest that a considerable proportion of seaweed could sequester carbon in sediments or the deep sea. But the exact amount of carbon they end up capturing naturally is an area of intense research. Fight the food crisis with underwater forests Continuing with the study, underwater forests could also play a role in efforts to alleviate the global food security crisis, thanks to their rapid growth. On average, ocean forests in temperate regions, such as the southern coast of Australia, produced between two and 11 times more biomass—remnants of animal or plant organic matter—per area than intensively cultivated areas. "We found that underwater forests are more productive than many intensively cultivated crops such as wheat, rice and corn." Study: Global algae productivity.