Ants Might Save the Planet From Global Warming?

From the Times of India:

Ants may be cooling the Earth by helping trap carbon dioxide from the environment, a new study has claimed.

A long-term experiment tracking the ants’ effects on soil suggests they cooled Earth’s climate as their numbers grew.

“Ants are changing the environment,” said lead study author Ronald Dorn, from the Arizona State University in Tempe.

Certain ant species “weather” minerals in order to secrete calcium carbonate — better known as limestone. The process traps and removes a tiny bit of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere, Dorn said.

This ant limestone factory is a small-scale version of the massive planetary-cooling process that takes place in the oceans, known as carbon sequestration, ‘Live Science’ reported.

Dorn discovered that ants were powerful weathering agents by tracking the breakdown of basalt sand. 

The rest here.

And the best news? Science has, in the past, suggested that global warming is increasing ant populations. The ants that we’ve created will save us!

http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/384534/science-ants-might-save-planet-global-warming-greg-pollowitz