Can Ants Really Help Earth Against Climate Change?
by Sangeeta Haindl
Ants are changing the environment and could be one of the Earth's most powerful biological climate brokers. The average ant lives and dies in less than a year, but a long-term experiment tracking the insects' effects on soil suggests they cooled the earth’s climate as their numbers increased. A lead study by Professor Ronald Dorn, a geologist at Arizona State University in Tempe which was published in the journal Geology has discovered that certain ant species "weather" minerals in order to secrete calcium carbonate — better known as limestone. When ants make limestone, the process traps and removes a tiny bit of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere.
The ant limestone factory is a small-scale version of the massive planetary-cooling process that takes place in the oceans, known as carbon sequestration. Natural carbon sequestration is the process on Earth that manages the carbon dioxide expelled by animals, plants and humans.
To continue reading, click here
Photo Credit: Wikimedia
Sangeeta Haindl writes on social innovation, social enterprise, and social entrepreneurs. She is the owner of Serendipity PR, in London, U.K., where she works with high-profile brands and organizations in the public, non-profit, and corporate sectors, winning awards for her work from the communications industry. She describes herself as a Spiritual Entrepreneur, Conscious Explorer, and Futurist. She enjoys helping others, paying it forward, and being a mum.
