Vultures Prevent Tens of Millions of Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions Each Year (scientificamerican.com) 50
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: Vultures are hard birds for humans to love. They are an obligate scavenger, meaning they get all their food from already dead prey -- and that association has cast them as a harbinger of death since ancient times. But in reality, vultures are nature's flying sanitation crew. And new research adds to that positive picture by detailing these birds' role in a surprising process: mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. With their impressive vision and the range they can cover in their long, soaring flights, the 22 species of vultures found around the world are often the first scavengers to discover and feed on a carcass. This cleanup provides a vital service to both ecosystems and humans: it keeps nutrients cycling and controls pathogens that could otherwise spread from dead animals to living ones.
Decaying animal bodies release greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane. But most of these emissions can be prevented if vultures get to the remains first, a new study in Ecosystem Services shows. It calculates that an individual vulture eats between 0.2 and one kilogram (kg) of carcass per day, depending on the vulture species. Left uneaten, each kg of naturally decomposing carcass emits about 0.86 kg of CO2 equivalent. This estimate assumes that carcasses not eaten by vultures are left to decay. But many carcasses are composted or buried by humans, which result in more emissions than natural decay, so vulture consumption can avert even more emissions when replacing those methods. The avoided emissions may not sound like much, but multiply those estimates by the estimated 134 million to 140 million vultures around the world, and the number becomes more impressive: tens of millions of metric tons of emissions avoided per year.
But this ecosystem service is not evenly distributed around the world. It occurs mostly in the Americas, says the study's lead author Pablo Plaza, a biologist at the National University of Comahue in Argentina. Three species found only in the Americas -- the Black, Turkey and Yellow-headed vultures -- are responsible for 96 percent of all vulture-related emissions mitigation worldwide, Plaza and his colleagues found. Collectively, vultures in the Americas keep about 12 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent out of the atmosphere annually. Using estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that is akin to taking 2.6 million cars off the road each year. The situation outside of the Americas stands in stark contrast. "The decline in vulture populations in many regions of the world, such as Africa and Asia, has produced a concomitant loss of the ecosystem services vultures produce," Plaza says.
Decaying animal bodies release greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane. But most of these emissions can be prevented if vultures get to the remains first, a new study in Ecosystem Services shows. It calculates that an individual vulture eats between 0.2 and one kilogram (kg) of carcass per day, depending on the vulture species. Left uneaten, each kg of naturally decomposing carcass emits about 0.86 kg of CO2 equivalent. This estimate assumes that carcasses not eaten by vultures are left to decay. But many carcasses are composted or buried by humans, which result in more emissions than natural decay, so vulture consumption can avert even more emissions when replacing those methods. The avoided emissions may not sound like much, but multiply those estimates by the estimated 134 million to 140 million vultures around the world, and the number becomes more impressive: tens of millions of metric tons of emissions avoided per year.
But this ecosystem service is not evenly distributed around the world. It occurs mostly in the Americas, says the study's lead author Pablo Plaza, a biologist at the National University of Comahue in Argentina. Three species found only in the Americas -- the Black, Turkey and Yellow-headed vultures -- are responsible for 96 percent of all vulture-related emissions mitigation worldwide, Plaza and his colleagues found. Collectively, vultures in the Americas keep about 12 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent out of the atmosphere annually. Using estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that is akin to taking 2.6 million cars off the road each year. The situation outside of the Americas stands in stark contrast. "The decline in vulture populations in many regions of the world, such as Africa and Asia, has produced a concomitant loss of the ecosystem services vultures produce," Plaza says.
Not that hard to love (Score:5, Insightful)
If you've ever seen a vulture anywhere even kind of close, they are I think a really impressive bird. Generally pretty large, maybe physically not the most classically beautiful creature but there is something to be said for an air of power and ability they have.
Looking at them circling nearby up in the sky is especially impressive, they look amazing in flight.
Re:Not that hard to love (Score:5, Funny)
Vote For .. (Score:2)
Re:Not that hard to love (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Herons are good at this. One massively plopped onto my car windshield, with unprocessed fish parts visible. Fortunately I was 2 blocks from a coin-op car wash when it happened.
There are some things that even turkey vultures will not touch. I observed a rotting bat ray on a mud flat over the course of several days. The vultures gave up after maybe day two.
Re: (Score:2)
A vulture would also make a far more fitting national bird than the eagle.
Not only for the US, by the way.
Re: (Score:3)
Looking at them circling nearby up in the sky is especially impressive, they look amazing in flight.
Usually seeing that is a sign you should seek medical attention.
Re:Not that hard to love (Score:4, Interesting)
If you've ever seen a vulture anywhere even kind of close, they are I think a really impressive bird. Generally pretty large, maybe physically not the most classically beautiful creature but there is something to be said for an air of power and ability they have.
Looking at them circling nearby up in the sky is especially impressive, they look amazing in flight.
They indeed are. And while I'm really skeptical about somehow they prevent carbon from entering the air, they are really important to us. Their scavenging prevents disease, and the world smells better too.
So do these vultures release elemental carbon or something?
Re: Not that hard to love (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
If you've ever seen a vulture anywhere even kind of close, they are I think a really impressive bird. Generally pretty large, maybe physically not the most classically beautiful creature but there is something to be said for an air of power and ability they have.
Looking at them circling nearby up in the sky is especially impressive, they look amazing in flight.
Forgot to add, watching the perching vultures as they awake and warm themselves in the morning is really cool. Wife and I were taking a hike one morning, and the sun was shining through the mist, while about 50 vultures were in their wingspread pose, warming up in the trees.
Vulture poop (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
They stick their head into those juicy carcasses a lot. By having naked heads, way less goo and bacteria stick to it, and it is easier to clean.
Mass balance seems off (Score:5, Interesting)
If a vulture (or other macro scavenger) consumes a carcass, essentially all of the carbon content of the carcass gets turned into carbon dioxide through metabolism. The overall biomass carbon of vultures changes hardly at all. If the carcass is left to rot, the metabolic processes of the bacteria and other critters yield carbon dioxide, probably more methane, and perhaps a localized increase in critter biomass carbon that could last for a while (perhaps a year at most?). Burial/composting could change the balance and timing a bit. But in the circle-of-life lifecycle analysis, there doesn't seem to be any great difference in carbon emissions from these different paths. It's not like the vultures are long-term sequestering carbon.
I'm all for letting vultures do their biosphere job, but exaggerating their role in carbon emissions seems misguided.
Re: Mass balance seems off (Score:1)
Just you wait... (Score:5, Funny)
Soon they'll find out that animals eating cellulose are sequestering carbon by turning it into meat and meat products.
Making McDonald's a carbon-capture company.
Re: (Score:3)
Don't hold your breath over that.
But if you do you might lower the CO2 emission.
Re:Mass balance seems off (Score:5, Informative)
They don't sequester it. The vultures ensure most of the carbon is efficiently released as CO2, preventing a chunk of it from being released as methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas.
Re: (Score:1)
But why is this obviously necessary clarification in a comment and not in the summary ?
Re: (Score:3)
The keyword you are missing is "equivalent" in CO2 equivalent.
If a carcass is left to rot it turns into CO2 and lots of methane. If it is eaten by a vulture, it turns into mostly CO2. Methane, despite it's shorter lifespan, produces much more greenhouse effect than CO2. This is often expressed as CO2 equivalent, the added methane is where it all comes from.
Re: Mass balance seems off (Score:2)
Re: Mass balance seems off (Score:2)
Either that or there's a ten million ton vulture eyeing you.
A proposal... (Score:3)
Perhaps it's time to rename "vulture capitalists". Clearly vultures have a role to play in keeping the planet in decent condition. Capitalists...not so much.
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That's why we locally call them "locusts". They pretty much turn what others toil and work for into a mess, then leave to destroy others after what they left is a desert.
Time to invent a better bug spray.
Re: (Score:2)
Well said.
I never knew... (Score:3)
...that vultures are a nature's carbon sink to their innate inability to breathe, fart or shit.
Instead they probably just sweat tiny diamonds, from time to time.
I mean, it's either that or Pablo and Sergio [sciencedirect.com] are the actual carbon sinks here due to being full of shit.
While happily ignoring the CO2 released by the vultures.
Not that I know every journal out there (Score:2)
But this has got to be the first time I've ever seen Ecosystem Services mentioned in any way, shape, or form.
Breaking the laws of physics (Score:3)
Quite where these 'scientists' think the energy content of those carcases that are eaten ends up is beyond me, because I'd hazard a guess they end up exhaled by the vultures or as decomposing vulture or vulture shit. That is, the decomposing carcase is temporarily stored in the vulture as increased body mass and ends up as CO2.
Absolutely pathetic.
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Carbon needs to be captured and stored, and that's the end of the story.
Re: (Score:3)
They think it ends up as CO2 rather than methane. Hence the reduction in CO2 equivalent, because methane causes more greenhouse effect than CO2.
Why do you think that they hadn't thought this through?
IRS does a happy dance (Score:2)
Re:Windmills prevent vultures. So do lots of thing (Score:5, Informative)
The biggest killer of vultures in Africa is humans. Specifically ivory poachers.
If you kill an elephant, you'll need a hour or more to remove the tusks. But you'll have a flock of vultures (and other scavengers) circling overhead within minutes. This gives your location away to game wardens.
So poachers have taken to killing another animal (zebra, gazelle, anything) in the vicinity and lacing the corpse with poison. The vultures then feed on that and die within minutes. Leaving a gap in the local scavenger population that can be used to poach ivory without giving your location away.
One poisoning incident can kill several hundred scavengers. So many species of vulture in Africa are critically endangered.
Some more information here: https://www.hawk-conservancy.o... [hawk-conservancy.org]
Re: (Score:3)
Africa should just open season on poachers. It's so win-win, what do you think how many rich idiots would literally kill for the chance to hunt the most dangerous animal?
Re: (Score:2)
Right. Cause the rich idiots are going to be more effective hunters than the poachers who mostly come from the area and have been doing it for years.
Re: (Score:1)
Hush! With a bit of luck we get rid of either the poachers or the rich hunters.
Don't you just love Win-Win situations?
So, eating meat IS saving the environment? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Yes, rather than letting it rot. So, if you eat roadkill that's a good thing.
If you farm animals, particularly cows, and particularly on a serial rich diet, then that is an environmentally bad thing.
dumb math (Score:2)
Obviously, 80%+ of a dead creature doesn't *poof* turn into co2, it's consumed by other creatures (bacteria) which have their own emissions.
So they're not comparing apples to apples, which would be the resulting emissions between 1kg of flesh consumed by 1 thing vs many things.
Suggesting that vultures somehow *disappear* that mass without their own emissions is rather stupid.
Logically, I doubt very much that larger creatures are inherently more efficient. Nature is pretty good at evolving toward ef
Children's edition? (Score:1, Troll)
Vultures are hard birds for humans to love. They are an obligate scavenger, meaning they get all their food from already dead prey...
Holy shit. Who is this written for? As an adult, I am sort of past the childish need to "love" animals or find them cuddly. Jesus Christ, get on with the fucking story already.
Trying to do my part (Score:2)
I've been drinking a lot of soda lately. Hope it helps.
Plant Trees, Better Yet: Don't Cut Them Down (Score:2)
Re: Plant Trees, Better Yet: Don't Cut Them Down (Score:1)
Vultures don't fart? (Score:2)
Cool story, but... (Score:2)
the positive side of this (Score:2)
Emissions go down further (Score:2)
When the bad politicians keep their mouths shut.