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Lofty Thought of the Day
- Category: Science & Technology
By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News Sperm whales may put a gentle (and unwitting) brake on climate change. Sperm whale faeces may help oceans absorb carbon dioxide from the air, scientists have found. Australian researchers calculate that Southern Ocean sperm whales, estimated to number about 12,000, each release about 50 tonnes of iron every year.
This stimulates the growth of tiny marine plants - phytoplankton - which absorb CO2 during photosynthesis.
They note in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B that in the end, this also provides more food for the whales.
Sperm whales' heads are filled with a mysterious substance called spermaceti. Scientists have yet to understand its function, but believe it may help the animal regulate its buoyancy.
Phytoplankton are the basis of the marine food web in this part of the world, and the growth of these tiny plants is limited by the amount of nutrients available, including iron.
Faecal Attraction
Over the last decade or so, many groups of scientists have experimented with putting iron into the oceans deliberately as a "fix" for climate change.
Not all of these experiments have proved successful; the biggest, the German Lohafex expedition, put six tonnes of iron into the Southern Ocean in 2008, but saw no sustained increase in carbon uptake.
But the Australian group calculates the natural fertilization by
the 12,000 or so sperm whales estimated to inhabit the Southern Ocean results in the absorption of about 40,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere every year - more than twice as much as they release by breathing...MORE...
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