Soil microbes hold key to climate puzzle
30 Mar 2017
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Soil tests on the Colorado Plateau in the US show that arid lands could reflect more light back into space | Jennifer LaVista |
By TIM RADFORD | Climate scientists puzzled by the traffic of carbon between soil and air might have to think more deeply about the role played by soil microbes − the planet’s smallest inhabitants.
One research team has just found that soil microbes could actually lighten the colour of arid land soils, to reflect more light and bounce more radiation energy back into space.
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