Large animals play a key role in mitigating climate change in tropical forests

Experts from 15 institutions, including the Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds and the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India have found out that large animals play a key role in mitigating climate change in tropical forests. The animals do it by spreading the seeds of large trees that have a high capacity to store carbon.  Using simulations, the researchers showed that declines of large animals will result in forests having fewer large trees.   Carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems, such as forests, reduces the amount of carbon that would otherwise accumulate in the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change.

Details of the research appear in the latest issue of journal Nature Communications.