Because of their enormous body size, whales have been thought to contribute a considerable amount of carbon dioxide to the total greenhouse gas build-up whenever they exhale. However, Trish J. Lavery of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia claims they – the sperms whales of Southern Ocean, at least – are falsely-accused and that they live quite a carbon-neutral life.
During the October 13 Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Quebec City, Canada, Lavery talked about earlier calculations overlooking the whales’ capacity to offset their carbon dioxide emissions. The 210,000 sperm whales in Southern Ocean should be declared carbon neutral, according to Lavery. The carbon neutral status is achieved by bringing iron from the depths of the ocean to the surface whenever they feed. This extra iron in the water induces plankton growth which in turn traps carbon and prevents it from being released into the atmosphere.
Prior analysis of whale carbon dioxide emissions attributes 25 percent of carbon dioxide emissions total to the animals in the Southern Ocean region. Subsequent computation lowers the whales’ carbon dioxide emissions estimate to 0.3 percent, which is equivalent to 17 million tons of carbon a year. Lavery and team explain that there are low levels of iron in the Southern Ocean, and the sperm whales each contribute about 10 grams of iron to the surface. Since the iron comes from the whales’ waste material, it takes the form of liquid plumes, effectively acting as a fertilizer and encouraging growth of plankton. Depending on the exact values and environmental conditions, sperm whales can then be classified “either a net carbon sink or as carbon-neutral,” Discovery writes.
*Image from Erwin Winkelman @ flickr under a Creative Commons License
Some one actually studies whether whales are carbon neutral? Is this what we’ve come to? God help us. YOU can save the planet, I’LL save your seat.
I never even thought of the carbon emissions of whales. Glad to hear their waste is more productive for the environment than human waste.
“Because of their enormous body size, whales have been thought to contribute a considerable amount of carbon dioxide” By who – or what ? What kind of a sad halfwit starts looking at things that haven’t changed for a possible link with something that has changed ?!! Maybe if we don’t breath when using a car/bus/train/what have you, then whatever it is that “had the thought” will be appeased ?