New source of global warming gas found: plants
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New source of global warming gas found: plants
Wed Jan 11, 1:06 PM ET
German scientists have discovered a new source of methane, a greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in its impact on climate change.
The culprits are plants.
They produce about 10 to 30 percent of the annual methane found in the atmosphere, according to researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany.
The scientists measured the amount of methane released by plants in controlled experiments. They found it increases with rising temperatures and exposure to sunlight.
"Significant methane emissions from both intact plants and detached leaves were observed ... in the laboratory and in the field," Dr Frank Keppler and his team said in a report in the journal Nature.
Methane, which is produced by city rubbish dumps, coal mining, flatulent animals, rice cultivation and peat bogs, is one of the most potent greenhouse gases in terms of its ability to trap heat.
Concentrations of the gas in the atmosphere have almost tripled in the last 150 years. About 600 million tonnes worldwide are produced annually.
The scientists said their finding is important for understanding the link between global warming and a rise in greenhouse gases.
It could also have implications for the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for developed countries to cut their emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
Keppler and his colleagues discovered that living plants emit 10 to 100 times more methane than dead plants.
Scientists had previously thought that plants could only emit methane in the absence of oxygen.
David Lowe, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, said the findings are startling and controversial.
"Keppler and colleagues' finding helps to account for observations from space of incredibly large plumes of methane above tropical forests," he said in a commentary on the research.
But the study also poses questions, such as how such a potentially large source of methane could have been overlooked and how plants produced it.
"There will be a lively scramble among researchers for the answers to these and other questions," Lowe added. -
where do u get this report??
can gif mi the web? -
More plants -> global warming
Less plants -> Air not fresh, soil erosion, less cooling, etc
THEN HOW??
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It is in the 1st post.Originally posted by masteryap:where do u get this report??
can gif mi the web? -
time for earth to go. serious..
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haha the earth is going to reach dead end soon
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wonder if u guys even bothered to read the whole article.
It says here that the increase in methane production only come about from increase in temperature.The scientists measured the amount of methane released by plants in controlled experiments. They found it increases with rising temperatures and exposure to sunlight.
so it is a vicous cycle that starts with excess carbon dioxide (the first chain that start increase in temperature)
If the first chain of fault causing gas (carbon dioxide)is reduce,the second chain will also reduce? -
Ya, now environmentalists are encouraging people to use public transportions, walk to work, use renewable energy sources which don't emit carbon dioxide and etc. But then economists say that this will affect the global economy.Originally posted by Aveme:wonder if u guys even bothered to read the whole article.
It says here that the increase in methane production only come about from increase in temperature.
so it is a vicous cycle that starts with excess carbon dioxide (the first chain that start increase in temperature)
If the first chain of fault causing gas (carbon dioxide)is reduce,the second chain will also reduce?
Wondering if the amount of CO2 emited can be reduced to a healthy level.
Is there hope for our planet earth? -
Light up the methane in the atmosphere and the planet go up with a "BANG"
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You seem to like to watch with your own eyes the mushroom head in the blue blue sky right?Originally posted by maggot:Light up the methane in the atmosphere and the planet go up with a "BANG" 
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I have always dreamed that I will be blown away by a thermonuclear explosion...Originally posted by News:You seem to like to watch with your own eyes the mushroom head in the blue blue sky right? -
Do you know you could be a dangerous man? Anytime you can be a suicide bomber.Originally posted by maggot:I have always dreamed that I will be blown away by a thermonuclear explosion... -
If I really want to be suicide bomber I will blow up the planet and make sure it is really goneOriginally posted by News:Do you know you could be a dangerous man? Anytime you can be a suicide bomber. -
nt the earth...Originally posted by vIn.Warrior:time for earth to go. serious..
its us...