Mudflats store more carbon than forests
Overnight a landmark study dropped about the importance of mudflats. The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), on behalf of WWF, The Wildlife Trusts and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds first announced this on Channel 4 news. They estimate that the carbon sequestration potential of UK wetlands, including mudflats, is almost three times that of its forests. Most the carbon is stored in the top 10cm.
Guess where all the birds, animals and microbes mainly feed?
Chief correspondent Alex Thomson for Channel 4 news broke the story saying ‘such numbers [of birds] are supported of course by the richness of that mud again – its worms and invertebrates one giant bird feeder for them during the day’.
While the study is incredibly important, again, we find ourselves at the forefront of a problem. The wetland relies on animals for building a stable ecosystem. All that carbon is laid down by the birds.
Abundant birds are key to unlocking this potential
Why is this important? Because as Paterson from SAMS says, mudflats are ‘a huge asset for decision-makers. Now we need them to act on its findings.’ How do you protect ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More until you realise the critical need to put wildlife first?
Our view of shorebirds is limited. To understand complex systems, we break them into small units. After all, humans have naturally narrow vision. We see birds feeding on an estuary. Science compartmentalises ecology at a moment in time and place.
The fact is, migratory birds are a significant reason why that carbon is stored in the first place. Not only that, their actions enable microbes to massively increase that rate of storage, which is fundamental to our climate as well as our own physical and mental wellbeing (this will all be covered in my new book). Further, this relates to our own wellbeing in ways we are only just beginning to understand – even in regards to food, which is fundamental to our existence.
Over millennia, it’s not the animals that are feeding on the habitat, it’s the specifical individuals most likely to contribute to building a self-sustaining ecosystem that enable this self-fulfilling natural infrastructure to evolve. It only continues to be habitable, because more and more animals are provided with life support, as the likeliest survive.
It’s the opposite of what we think. If the UK is to protect its wetlands, it has to put the birds first, as they are the primary structural engineers that enable the carbon to be sequestered.
