By Turning Themselves to Stone, These Remarkable Fig Trees Sequester CO2 Far Longer Than Normal

By Turning Themselves to Stone, These Remarkable Fig Trees Sequester CO2 Far Longer Than Normal

By Turning Themselves to Stone, These Remarkable Fig Trees Sequester CO2 Far Longer Than Normal A Ficus wakefieldii, – credit Mike Rowley CC license Some species of fig trees store calcium carbonate in their trunks—essentially turning themselves (partially) into stone. This ‘auto-petrification’ may offer a strange new way to reduce human carbon emissions, as the mineral created by the trees has a much longer lifespan than organic carbon absorbed and deposited in its root system. An international team of scientists found that three species of  Ficus  that grow in Kenya were able to draw carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and store it as calcium carbonate ‘rocks’ in the surrounding soil. The figs are one of the first fruiting trees shown to have this ability, known as the oxalate carbonate pathway. One species in particular,  Ficus wakefieldii,  was especially prolific. All trees use photosynthesis to turn CO2 into organic carbon, which forms their trunk, branches, roots and leaves, but cer…