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Catalysis
EtherealEngineer

Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally
#5168652 - 01/11/06 06:17 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Scientists have just discovered that plants produce methane gas aerobically. Not only that, but they believe that plants may contribute up to 1/3 of total methane gas emissions, the second most active greenhouse gas. Previously, plants were not known to produce methane at all.
To me, this totally invalidates most models of global warming as far as sinks and sources go. However, some are saying that this only furthers the need for humans to cut greenhouse emissions.
Interestingly, the Kyoto protocol grants credits for re-forestation. If this study is correct, forests could contribute more greenhouse gas than they eliminate.
This will be published tomorrow in the journal Nature. I cannot post anything on it now due to copyright issues but you will be able to find something on it eventually. This should make some waves.
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supercollider
superconducting


Registered: 10/13/00
Posts: 1,234
Loc: Waxahachie
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Catalysis]
#5169630 - 01/11/06 10:06 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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CO2 represents something like 84% of all greenhouse gases though. I think this "1/3 of all methane" that plants produce is still down around 2-3% of total greenhouse emissions, then. As for forests contributing more greenhouse gas than they eliminate, I'm very skeptical. They still use up CO2, last I heard :P.
-------------------- Supercollider? I just met her!
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Diploid
Cuban


Registered: 01/09/03
Posts: 19,274
Loc: Rabbit Hole
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Catalysis]
#5169833 - 01/11/06 10:43 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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No way! I heard it was cow farts! Seriously!
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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drtyfrnk
PresidentialCandidate 2008



Registered: 01/24/05
Posts: 2,961
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Diploid]
#5171442 - 01/12/06 10:18 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Bastards!
I always knew those green bastards were good for nothin!
-------------------- It's Krang, Bitch!
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trendal
J♠


Registered: 04/17/01
Posts: 20,815
Loc: Ontario, Canada
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Catalysis]
#5172602 - 01/12/06 03:32 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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To me, this totally invalidates most models of global warming as far as sinks and sources go.
Just how does it "totally invalidate" the models?
To me, this serves to increase the accuracy of most models - as it is changing another unknown into a known variable. As far as anthropogenic climate change is concerned, this changes nothing. Plants have been around far far longer than humans, so I think if it were even remotely possible for them to cause any significant warming of the Earth they already would have done so. It certainly does not invalidate the concept of global warming.
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Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
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Huehuecoyotl
Fading Slowly


Registered: 06/13/04
Posts: 10,689
Loc: On the Border
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Catalysis]
#5174249 - 01/12/06 09:06 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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"Scientists have just discovered that plants produce methane gas aerobically."
Just discovered that lifeforms produce methane???? That has been known for quite some time now.
-------------------- "A warrior is a hunter. He calculates everything. That's control. Once his calculations are over, he acts. He lets go. That's abandon. A warrior is not a leaf at the mercy of the wind. No one can push him; no one can make him do things against himself or against his better judgment. A warrior is tuned to survive, and he survives in the best of all possible fashions." ― Carlos Castaneda
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Catalysis
EtherealEngineer

Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 10 months
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Huehuecoyotl]
#5174325 - 01/12/06 09:25 PM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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Methane emissions from terrestrial plants under aerobic conditions
Frank Keppler1, John T. G. Hamilton2, Marc Bra1,3 and Thomas R?ckmann1,3
Methane is an important greenhouse gas and its atmospheric concentration has almost tripled since pre-industrial times. It plays a central role in atmospheric oxidation chemistry and affects stratospheric ozone and water vapour levels. Most of the methane from natural sources in Earth's atmosphere is thought to originate from biological processes in anoxic environments. Here we demonstrate using stable carbon isotopes that methane is readily formed in situ in terrestrial plants under oxic conditions by a hitherto unrecognized process. Significant methane emissions from both intact plants and detached leaves were observed during incubation experiments in the laboratory and in the field. If our measurements are typical for short-lived biomass and scaled on a global basis, we estimate a methane source strength of 62?236 Tg yr-1 for living plants and 1?7 Tg yr-1 for plant litter (1 Tg = 1012 g). We suggest that this newly identified source may have important implications for the global methane budget and may call for a reconsideration of the role of natural methane sources in past climate change.
1. Max-Planck-Institut f?r Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany 2. Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland, Agriculture, Food and Environmental Science Division, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, UK 3. Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3508 TA, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Correspondence to: Frank Keppler1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to F.K. (Email: [Email]xxx.[/Email]
Received 14 July 2005; Accepted 3 November 2005
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Notell
counterpart
Registered: 01/11/06
Posts: 17
Loc: British Columbia
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
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Re: Plants May Contribute Up to 1/3 of a Greenhouse Gas, Globally [Re: Catalysis]
#5175904 - 01/13/06 09:45 AM (18 years, 4 months ago) |
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I read in a herbalism book there are about 340,000 species of foliage.
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