📌 The tree canopy has a secret ally in cleaning up atmospheric pollution.

So far, we knew that the leaves on a tree removed atmospheric carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. But in a path breaking study published in 2021, scientists showed that bacteria living in the bark of the Australian paperbark tree consume atmospheric methane, thus doing a great job of reducing this polluting gas from the atmosphere. 

This interesting discovery was followed by another in 2024 which revealed that such methane guzzling bacteria also inhabited the bark of other tree species found in the UK, Sweden, Panama and the Amazon. 

But this was not the end of the story, yet another study published in January 2026 showed that this methane eating property was really quite widespread. Bark bacteria in tree species across the world were mopping up polluting gases, gobbling not just methane but also huge amounts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the air. 

These recent discoveries that trees function as comprehensive air scrubbing filters add even more weight to the importance of forests in keeping our ecosystems healthy. In light of this, #deforestation becomes an even more dangerous exercise.

#ClimateScience #Microbiology #SaveOurForests #Nature #CarbonCapture #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming