If you ask us about natural forms of capture and fix carbon from the atmosphere, plants will probably come to mind. Especially the trees; since, due to their large size, they can sequester a greater amount of carbon dioxide and incorporate carbon into their structures. Now, they are not the only ones. Among the animals we also have large carbon sequestrants. And, just as with plants, the most effective are the largest. Therefore, special attention must be paid to the Whales.
It is the conclusion of a study just published in Trends in Ecology & Evolutionno by scientists from the Alaska Southeast University. In such research, they don’t just look at how whales participate in carbon sequestration. They also study how they intervene in the release of more oxygen and nutrients for the proliferation of marine life.
For all this, whales are essential allies in the fight against climate change. But unfortunately, humans continue to pollute their waters, causing changes in the temperature of their habitat and even hunting them. The latter is less and less common, thankfully. However, in some places it is still common practice. And not only do they end the lives of these majestic animals, they destroy some of our best carbon stores. Seeing the conclusions of this study, it is another line in which awareness should be raised.
Whales as carbon sequestrants
The blue whale It is the largest animal in the world. can get to measure 33 meters long and weigh more than 150 tons. Therefore, they contain a large biomasscomposed, as in most living beings, by a large proportion of carbon. This turns them into large carbon stores, which also remain active for many years, since they are animals very long-lived, which in some cases can live more than a century. We are not only talking about the blue whale. Also of other species, not so colossal, but equally large.
But the carbon they contain in their structures is not their only advantage as allies against climate change. In this study, its authors also point out the importance of your diet. And it is that, every day, they consume 4% of their weight in krill and photosynthetic plankton. That is, a blue whale consumes more than 3 tons of these foods; which, once digested, are deposited back into the sea through their feces. That frees up new nutrients for more krill to grow and more photosynthetic plankton to proliferate. It is important here to remember that during photosynthesis release oxygen. In addition, the plants and algae that perform it capture carbon for their own growth. Therefore, whales are not just carbon stores. Also, during their migrations, they are in charge of promoting the release of oxygen and the uptake of even more carbon.
What happens when they die?
We might ask what happens when the whales die. Do they release all that carbon that they have captured throughout their lives? The answer is yes. However, what happens to that carbon is that as the body breaks down is deposited on the seabed. This, as explained in a statement the authors of the study“complements the biological carbon pump, where nutrients and chemicals are exchanged between the ocean and the atmosphere through complex biogeochemical pathways.”
On the other hand, when they are hunted, in addition to the fact that death occurs prematurelydirectly breaks the carbon storewith no benefits to the seabed.
Fortunately, the demand for whale meat is falling all over the world. This is jeopardizing the survival of some large whalers, such as the last one left in iceland. But there is still more. And every whale that is hunted is an environmental tragedy. Thanks to this study, there is something else to push for, finally, whaling is nothing more than the plot of a Herman Melville novel.