Can Animal Biodiversity Help the Climate?

This article shows that the number of different kinds of mammals and their interactions affect the way carbon, an element essential for life, moves between plants, animals, and the environment in the Amazon. It was already known that plant biodiversity affects this cycling of carbon, and some scientists had suggested this relationship might be true for animals, too. Mammals and their interactions increase the amount of carbon stored in soils and trees. When carbon is stored, this helps to slow down climate change, because that carbon is removed from the atmosphere. But animal populations worldwide are decreasing. We should consider that conservation of mammals will increase the carbon storage in soils and trees, and therefore help us fight climate change.