Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems
For Cambridge students For our researchers Colleges and Departments Email and phone search Give to Cambridge Museums and collections Undergraduate - Events and open days Fees and finance Postgraduate - Postgraduate courses Fees and funding Frequently asked questions International students Continuing education Executive and professional education Courses in education How the University and Colleges work Visiting the University Equality and diversity Global Cambridge Public engagement Give to Cambridge - Every drop of fresh water contains thousands of different organic molecules that have previously gone unnoticed. By measuring the diversity of these molecules and how they interact with the environment around them, research has revealed an invisible world that affects the functioning of freshwater ecosystems and can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. What we've traditionally called 'carbon' in freshwater turns out to be a super-diverse mixture of different carbon-based organic molecules. Andrew Tanentzap Small shallow lakes dominate the world's freshwater area, and the sediments within them already produce at least one-quarter of all carbon-dioxide, and more than two-thirds of all methane that come from lakes. The new research, published in the journal PNAS , suggests that climate change may cause the levels of greenhouse gases emitted by freshwater northern lakes to increase by between 1.5 and 2.7 times. "What we've traditionally called 'carbon' in freshwater turns out to be a super-diverse mixture of different carbon-based organic molecules," said Dr Andrew Tanentzap in Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences, who led the research.
Advert