He nitrous oxide, also called laughing gas, is very insoluble in blood and other tissues, providing rapid induction of anesthesia and, at the same time, rapid recovery after stopping the supply.
Nitrous oxide is also a powerful greenhouse gas, so emissions of this gas are partially responsible, along with carbon dioxide, methane and some aerosols, for causing global warming. Penguins are great generators of this gas.
Nitrous oxide
In a new study, published in Science of the Total Environment, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have shown that king penguins in Antarctica emit large amounts of nitrous oxide through their feces. As explained Bo Elberling, from the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at the University of Copenhagen:
Penguin guano produces significantly high levels of nitrous oxide around their colonies. Peak emissions are approximately 100 times higher than in a recently fertilized Danish field. It is really intense, especially because nitrous oxide is 300 times more polluting than CO2.
Penguins' favorite foods are fish and krill, which contain large amounts of nitrogen absorbed by phytoplankton in the ocean. Once they excrete it, soil bacteria then convert the substance into nitrous oxide.
While nitrous oxide emissions in this case are not enough to impact Earth's global energy budget, our findings contribute to new knowledge about how penguin colonies affect the environment around them, which is interesting because the Colonies generally are becoming more and more widespread.
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The news
This is how penguin droppings negatively influence the environment
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.