Elephants, powerful allies in the fight against global warming?
In a study published Monday in
Pnas (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
, researchers return to the role of megaherbivores in the structure of African forests and their ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a powerful gas Greenhouse effect.
Reserves of biodiversity, these tropical forests are indeed an essential regulator of the climate.
And
"it's an old question: why do African forests store more carbon than Amazonian forests?"
, suggests François Bretagnolle, teacher-researcher at the University of Burgundy, who participated in the study.
This difference would be partly due to the presence of larger trees in African forests (storing more CO2), a presence which could be linked to the activity of these megaherbivores.
African forest elephants
(Loxodonta cyclotis),
smaller than their savannah cousins…
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