01/18/2026
Wow so interesting! 🌲
New research demonstrates that the active microbial communities living in tree bark can “eat” atmospheric gases!
While we have long understood that trees are key to regulating the air we breathe, providing habitat and shade, and mitigating the worst impacts of the climate crisis, a deeper look shows that they are also host to an abundance of powerful microbes. This microscopic life on the surface of trees is purifying the atmosphere and reducing greenhouse gases. Studying trees in diverse types of ecosystems, researchers found a wetland tree bacteria that draws out methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and a microbial enzyme that removes carbon monoxide, a gas toxic to humans and animals, from the air.
In their work, a key finding stood out – across diverse ecosystems globally and varying tree species, bark microbes are steadily drawing hydrogen out of the atmosphere. Hydrogen plays a significant role in the climate as it has been found to amplify the warming impact of methane and “super-charge” climate change. On a global scale, scientists estimate the microbes could remove up to 55 million tonnes of hydrogen from the atmosphere annually.
Read more about the powerful tree “barkospheres” here 🌳 https://tinyurl.com/bdzfx3h7
The WECAN Women for Forests program is protecting forests and reforesting in the Amazon rainforest, Congo Basin, and Tongass rainforest.
🔗 Learn more about WECAN’s Women for Forests Program: https://www.wecaninternational.org/women-for-forests
