Hi, this is Kate from MinuteEarth. There are SO many superheroes out there, and their diverse
assortment of super-powers is key to their collective success. Captain America, the Hulk,
and Scarlet Witch each do awesome stuff on their own, but they can only beat the biggest,
baddest villains by banding together. And while there’s a lot from the comic universes
that definitely isn’t true in our own, there is a legit scientific parallel to the superhero-squad
phenomenon: our planet’s carbon sequestration squad. Cringe-y? Maybe...but hear me out.
This squad is fronted, of course, by trees, which suck millions of tons of planet-warming
carbon out of the air each year and store it in their carbon-rich trunks, leaves, and
roots; trees alone store more than ¾ of the carbon stored - or sequestered - in all living
things. And just like superheroes have different superpowers, tree species have different strategies
to grow big and pack away lots of carbon; some invest in deep roots, some sprout big,
solar-panel-like leaves, some grow super-fast to fill gaps in the canopy..
And - just like superheroes - trees perform better when they’re working in league with
each other. In a stand of just one species, everyone uses the same strategy, which means
they quickly start interfering with each other, and nobody grows very big very fast; as a
result, they can’t sequester much carbon. It’s kind of like how a New York City filled
with tons of identical Spider-Men would probably be...not so super. One filled with different
superheroes, however, is marvel-ous. Similarly, in a forest with lots of different tree species,
each can use a different resource-grabbing strategy. As a result, they collectively use
more of the available resources and everyone grows bigger, better, faster, stronger and
can lock away more carbon. A diverse forest can sequester twice as much carbon - or more
- as a single species stand. But the very best squads have sidekicks, too.
Okoye and Bucky Barnes may not be the stars of the show, but they play key roles in defeating
super-villains; similarly, while lots of non-tree species don’t store much carbon on their
own, they can have outsized effects on their ecosystem’s total haul. Fungi help plants
absorb extra resources; animals move seeds and nutrients around; and, of course, when
any member of the squad falls, microbes decompose it into rich soil. We’re still working to
measure the impacts of these sidekicks and how they differ across ecosystems, but we
know they can have big effects; one study found that doubling the number of mammal species
in a tropical forest can more than double the amount of carbon stored in its trees.
Speaking of mammals, humans can supercharge sequestration too; indigenous people have
long managed forests with small, controlled burns, which protect against much larger fires
and can increase both biodiversity and overall productivity.
And some forest ecologists even think that - just like species can work together to help
an ecosystem work smoothly and store lots of carbon - entire ecosystems, from grasslands
to tundra to oceans - may work together to boost productivity across entire regions,
enabling our planet to sequester carbon over giant scales. And we really do need to think
on a giant scale, because it’s going to take every Black Panther, Wolverine, Nightcrawler,
Falcon, Mantis, Wasp - and more - to successfully fend off our planet’s real-life super-villain.
We made this video with support from the Crowther Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
in Zürich, which focuses on global ecology and biodiversity loss. The Crowther Lab founded
Restor, an open data platform rooted in science that enables everyone, everywhere to get involved
with ecosystem restoration. All of us have an impact on the land - whether we are farmers
or windowsill gardeners, run community forestry projects or manage pension funds with global
investments - and the Crowther Lab believes that with access to the right tools, we can
all contribute to the sustainable use of the land we depend on. To learn more about your
land footprint and get involved with the diverse community of people restoring Earth’s ecosystems,
check out Restor.eco.