Measurements from stations around the world show that #methane levels have increased significantly since the early 2000s.
According to the report, the main reason is that more methane has been released from wetland areas such as #bogs, shallow #wells , #ponds, and #lakes in tropical regions.
And as it gets warmer, more is released.
“The temperature change leads to increased microbiological activity,” researcher Stephen Matthew Platt says. He is one of the researchers behind the new study.
Processes like #decomposition in wetlands happen faster when it gets warmer.
Another reason for the increase in methane emissions is that #permafrost has begun to #thaw in the north.
“When the permafrost thaws, it also leads to more water on the surface, and this development is underway,” explains Platt.
@Pollinators Before he died, my friend / colleague Toby Hemenway wrote this wonderful story about #beavers (we published it in the magazine, too).
"As Bill Mollison has observed, everything gardens. The beaver, however, goes far beyond simple #gardening to feats of complex #ecosystem transformation. Beaver don’t merely build dams that create #ponds. They control the flow of vast amounts of energy and material. With tough incisors and instinct, beavers create a shifting mosaic of moist and dry meadows, wet forests, #marshes, #bogs, streams, and open water that change the climate, nutrient flow, vegetation, wildlife, #hydrology, and even #geology of entire #watersheds." https://tobyhemenway.com/150-the-watershed-wisdom-of-the-beaver/