something boiling ?, page-27

re: comments ? Is this what you are reffering to Bilbo ? As you say , a buying opportunity here..
SALTY

"As you may have heard or read, a research team led by Frank Keppler of the Max Planck Institute in Germany found that living plants, dried leaves and grass emit methane in the presence of air. The report of their research was published in Nature earlier this month. Until now, conventional wisdom was that plants released methane only through bacterial action in airless environments. But Dr Keppler's team revealed that a wide range of plants emit the gas in air, probably through their leaves.
Some mass media reports misinterpreted the research finding, suggesting that it meant forests were partly responsible for global warming.

You may be interested to know that the Max Planck Society has now issued a media statement , Global Warming - the blame is not with the plants, responding to media coverage of the Nature article and reiterating the value of carbon sequestration through forests. ". . . the climatic benefits gained through carbon sequestration by reforestation far exceed the relatively small negative effect (of methane emissions), which may reduce the carbon uptake effect by up to 4 per cent."

The findings of the study underscore the need for further investment in basic research into plant processes, according to plant physiologist at the Australian National University and the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting Professor Graham Farquhar.

Professor Farquhar said the study was only preliminary work, making a global extrapolation from a limited laboratory study of emissions from detached leaves and field study of intact plants. Further research would be required to confirm the findings.

"While the methane emissions noted in this study are quite small compared to the carbon sequestration power of forests, the identification of previously unknown methane emissions highlights the importance of a more-complete understanding of plant processes and plant responses to climate change, Professor Farquhar said.

Managing Plants for Climate, a new venture being developed through a consortium associated with the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, proposes to work to:
broaden understanding of how plants will grow in future climates, especially with increased concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere; and on this basis
improve our understanding of the terrestrial carbon cycle;
assess impacts, develop adaptation strategies and identify new opportunities for land-based industries and natural resources;
contribute to the development of improved climate predictions; and
communicate and inform government, industry and the wider community on climate change and issues, and train a new generation of research leaders.

Please click on the links below to see the media statement and related material.
Max Planck Institute Media statement
News from Nature
Nature Letter reporting the findings
Nature Commentary by David Lowe

Further converage will be included in this month's edition of eCarbon News, to be emailed to subscribers on 31 January.