The composition of aquatic plant communities in shallow freshwater bodies, including floating plants, submerged plants and phytoplankton, can have important effects on greenhouse gas production, transport and emissions, according to a new study.
The composition of aquatic plant communities in shallow freshwater bodies, including floating plants, submerged plants and phytoplankton, can have important effects on greenhouse gas production, transport and emissions, according to a new study.
The findings could lead to aquatic plant management strategies that help mitigate the release of gases such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
And that’s important as about half of all the methane emissions on the planet originate from aquatic sources, with wetlands, ponds and shallow lakes accounting for most of it. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is roughly 28 times more potent over 100 years than carbon dioxide.
“A lot of public and privately owned water bodies can be heavily managed, based on what people want,” said Meredith Theus, the lead author of the study, published Aug. 5 in the journal Aquatic Botany. For example, people often remove submerged plants (or water weeds) and algae from ponds when they simply affect the ability to swim comfortably, she said.
Read More: Cornell University
Photo Credit: Couleur via Pixabay
