Thread by @mashant

1/6 Our 🌎 is heating and losing crucial carbon sinks. (Look at the #Amazon!)

🌳Tackling climate change means decarbonizing the economy but also recarbonizing our ecosystems
🦥I'm looking at the role of mammals in this task

But wait, mammals absorb CO2?⬇️
#DICECON21 #ConEffect

2/6 Well no *but* they mediate carbon flux:

Grazing by🦌🦘can stimulate🌿growth (more CO2 absorbed). Too much grazing does the opposite!

🐺🦁 influence plant growth by keeping 🦌 in check.
Meanwhile🐰 can ⬆️ soil carbon by digging. So much going on!

#DICECON21 #ConEffect

3/6 Mammal functions are so complex #climate scientists are ignoring them in #carbonbudget relying on 🛰️ images of 🌍vegetation.

But their role matters: by some estimates 🐺control of 🦌in North America could offset emissions of up to 20mn 🚗/year!

#DICECON21 #ConEffect

4/6 Too bad humans don't like 🐺!

Anyway, my project is an #evidencesynthesis: I comb through papers on how mammals in 🌲🌳 and grasslands influence carbon sink capacities. The result is an #evidencemap of where the knowledge lies on the subject.

#DICECON21 #ConEffect

5/6 (that 📊is a subset of papers)

#SystematicMaps help👀research bias, locate evidence that has fallen through the cracks & form policy.

This is important as we look for #NatureBasedSolutions to #ClimateCrisis and make sure #rewilding is evidence-based.

#DICECON21 #ConEffect

6/6 Thanks to @CharlieJGardner for supervising and a shoutout to @EnvEvidence, and their #ESTraining resources on methods of #evidencesynthesis and dealing with 1000s of papers without having a heart attack!

#DICECON21 #ConEffect

Thanks @MattLinkie for moderating and #DICECON21 organisers!

Some footnotes:
Slide 2 image - Henri Rousseau, “The hungry lion throws himself on the antelope”, 1905.
Slide 3 data - esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ec…
Slide 5 image: “Adam and the animals”, 13th century >> @medievalanimal