The Unlikeliest Heroes in the Battle Against Climate Change? Dung Beetles - John Metcalfe - The Atlantic Cities
In a finding that's sure to confuse climate-change skeptics – it's easy to mock this research, but doing so actually hurts their case – Penttilä says that the way the beetles are tunneling through cow patties is reducing amounts of methane going into the atmosphere, according to a recent study in PLoS ONE. With cattle farming responsible for an estimated 18 percent of anthropogenic emissions worldwide – 35 to 50 percent of extremely potent methane in particular – this breakthrough is not to be brushed off.
..."If the beetles can keep those methane emissions down," said the head of the team, "well then we should obviously thank them – and make sure to include them in our calculations of overall climatic effects of dairy and beef farming."
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