Is Santa's Sleigh Zero Carbon? The Answer Lies in Reindeer Poo

upstart writes:

Is Santa's sleigh zero carbon? The answer lies in reindeer poo:

Santa's sleigh is famously pulled by eight reindeer, nine if you include the luminous Rudolf who pitches in when it's foggy. The classic eight are Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Vixen and Blitzen. Those last two are an easy-on-the-ear translation of Dutch, but the whole eight sound like a fun stag party.

[...] The trouble for Santa is that reindeer are ruminants: they eat plants that ferment and produce methane in their guts-a potent greenhouse gas. But while reindeer are grounded, they nibble small shrubs, and this grazing has a significant effect on the carbon budget of the Arctic landscape.

A recent study from the Norway-Finland border compared the soil fungi in areas subject to year-round grazing by reindeer with places where reindeer only graze during the winter (presumably except for Christmas Eve). Winter-only grazing allowed birch woodland to spread across the tundra. But places with year-round nibbling by reindeer had more heathland vegetation. The fertile soils created by birch, and the species of fungi that live in the soils below the trees, released more carbon. But the more specialist fungi of the heathland soil work more slowly, allowing carbon stocks to build.

[...] Incidentally, birch woodlands are just the place to find the fly agaric toadstool Amanita muscaria: the classic cartoon fungi that look like a bright red cushion artfully flecked with popcorn.

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