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17 Sep

Mexican mangroves have been capturing carbon for 5,000 years

by TMR Desk
Climate Change
Researchers have identified a new reason to protect mangrove forests: they've been quietly keeping carbon out of Earth's atmosphere for the past 5,000 years. Mangroves thrive in conditions most plants cannot tolerate, like salty coastal waters. Some species have air-conducting, vertical roots that act like snorkels when tides are high, giving the appearance of trees floating on stilts. A UC Riverside and UC San Diego-led research team set out to understand how marine mangroves off the coast of La Paz, Mexico, absorb and release elements like nitrogen and carbon, processes called biogeochemical cycling. As these processes are largely driven by microbes, the team also wanted to learn which bacteria and fungi are thriving there. The team expected that carbon would be found in the...
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14 Sep

Planting trees not always an effective way of binding carbon dioxide

by TMR Desk
Education
Tree-planting has been widely seen as an effective way of binding carbon as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere. But now researchers from the University of Gothenburg and elsewhere are warning that forests on nutrient-poor land won't be an additional carbon sink in the long term. As forests age, their uptake of CO2 declines and, each time forests are planted, there is a risk of additional carbon being released from the soil. The capacity of plants to bind carbon is a key factor in calculating the effects of climate change as carbon dioxide levels rise in the atmosphere. Scientists have now measured how much biomass grows under air with elevated CO2 concentrations in several long term field experiments. Growth stimulation was poor or...
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14 Sep

Forests’ carbon uptake will be compromised by climate change, leaf temperature study suggests

by TMR Desk
Climate Change
A new study led by Oregon State University suggests leaves in forest canopies are not able to cool themselves below the surrounding air temperature, likely meaning trees' ability to avoid damaging temperature increases, and to pull carbon from the atmosphere, will be compromised in a warmer, drier climate. The findings by an international collaboration that included researchers from multiple universities and government agencies contrast with a prevailing theory in the scientific community that canopy leaves can keep their temperature within an optimal range for photosynthesis -- the process through which green plants make their food from sunlight and carbon dioxide. Published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research is important for understanding and predicting plant responses to climate...
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12 Sep

A breakthrough discovery in carbon capture conversion for ethylene production

by TMR Desk
Education
A team of researchers led by Meenesh Singh at University of Illinois Chicago has discovered a way to convert 100% of carbon dioxide captured from industrial exhaust into ethylene, a key building block for plastic products. Their findings are published in Cell Reports Physical Science. While researchers have been exploring the possibility of converting carbon dioxide to ethylene for more than a decade, the UIC team's approach is the first to achieve nearly 100% utilization of carbon dioxide to produce hydrocarbons. Their system uses electrolysis to transform captured carbon dioxide gas into high purity ethylene, with other carbon-based fuels and oxygen as byproducts. The process can convert up to 6 metric tons of carbon dioxide into 1 metric ton of ethylene, recycling almost all...
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