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Marine plant life holds the secret to preventing global warming http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1255537080
Life in the ocean has the potential to help to prevent global warming, according to a report published today.
Marine plant life sucks 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, but most of the plankton responsible never reaches the seabed to become a permanent carbon store.
Mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass beds are a different matter. Although together they cover less than 1 per cent of the world's seabed, they lock away well over half of all carbon to be buried in the ocean floor. They are estimated to store 1,650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year -- nearly half of global transport emissions -- making them one of the most intense carbon sinks on Earth.
Their capacity to absorb the emissions is under threat, however: the habitats are being lost at a rate of up to 7 per cent a year, up to 15 times faster than the tropical rainforests. A third have already been lost.
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[Read more stories about:
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'Doc Jim says:
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"Preventing global warming...?" Can we build a time machine from marine plant life?
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