JAKARTA – Melting it glacier around the world increasing the breakdown of complex carbon molecules across rivers. This condition is feared to have further potential for climate change due to carbon emissions.
An international team of researchers led by the University of Leeds for the first time linked glacier-fed mountain rivers with a higher rate of decomposition of plant material. This is a major process in the global carbon cycle. (Read: Predicted to Happen in 12 Months, Alaska Ice Triggers a Hundred Meters of Tsunami)
Moment melting mountain glaciers , the water is flowed to the river downstream. But with global warming accelerating the loss of glaciers, rivers have warmer water temperatures that change sediment. This condition is then much more favorable for the fungus to grow and develop.
Reported Phys.org , fungi that live in these rivers break down organic matter such as plant leaves and wood, which ultimately causes the release of carbon dioxide into the air. The process has been measured in 57 rivers in six mountains around the world, in Austria, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United States.
Lead author Sarah Fell, from the School of Geography, said similar patterns and processes were found all over the world. “We found an increase in the rate of decomposition of organic matter in mountain rivers, which is then expected to cause more carbon to be released into the atmosphere. (Also read: Choose BUlan to Store the DNA of 6.7 Million Species on the Moon, Scientists Explain)
“This is an unexpected form of climate feedback, where warming is driving losses glacier , which in turn quickly recycles carbon in rivers before it is returned to the atmosphere. “
The retreat of mountain glaciers is accelerating at an unprecedented rate in many parts of the world, with climate change predicted to continue to lose ice throughout the 21st century.
However, the response of river ecosystem processes (such as nutrient and carbon cycling) to the reduction of glacier cover, and the role of biodiversity in driving it is still poorly understood.
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