Extreme temperatures and humidity caused by climate change could reduce the Amazon rainforest’s ability to absorb the greenhouse gas methane by 70 percent, a study has found. Under a warming climate, the extreme rainfall and drought projected for South America’s Amazon could affect its net greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers said.
Often referred to as the ‘lungs of the planet’, tropical rainforests are located primarily in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and other parts, and are known as an important ‘greenhouse gas sink’ that Absorbs gases. Air.
However, 20 percent of the Amazon region, which is flooded for about half the year, releases methane, affecting its ability to absorb other greenhouse gases, researchers at Brazil’s University of Sao Paulo said. Their study has been published in the journal Environmental Microbiome.
Previous studies have shown that flooded areas of the Amazon contribute about 30 percent of methane emissions from wetlands globally.
“While it has already been shown that factors such as air temperature and seasonal flooding can influence the composition of microbial communities that influence methane fluxes into these environments, what do we need to know in the context of climate change and projected extreme weather? Should we expect?” Lead author Julia Gontijo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, US, said.
For this study, researchers took soil samples from two flooded areas of the Amazon and from highland forests known to absorb methane. These samples were subjected to extreme temperatures – 27 °C and 30 °C – and humidity.
They found that in a soil sample from an upland forest, methane absorption dropped by 70 percent in hot and dry conditions, while methane production increased in heavy rainfall, as the soil was not used to dealing with extreme humidity.
“Within this (highland) forest soil, an average 70 percent reduction in (methane) consumption capacity was observed with increasing temperature under dry conditions,” the authors wrote.
This means that the floodplain microbiome can adapt to climate change, but the upland forest microbiome is sensitive to its impacts, which could lead to a shift in the balance of greenhouse gas emissions in the Amazon in the future, Gontijo said. .
“Given the importance of the Amazon rainforest biome on a global scale, this could represent a very serious problem,” he said.
He further said that in both floodplains, although no significant change in methane emission patterns was observed, there was an increase in the number of methane producing microorganisms which could be a future problem.
The author said the results can be used to formulate public policies
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
