These daily droppings release, according to the study, about 10 tons of phosphorus and seven tons of nitrogen. Dominic / stock.adobe.com
“It’s worth its weight in gold“: Whale droppings play an important role for phytoplankton and make, by far, a – tiny – contribution against climate change, shows a new Norwegian study.
For the first time, researchers from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research have looked at the concentration of nutrients in whale droppings before they dissolve in seawater.
“It’s worth its weight in gold”
“It may sound gross, but for the ecosystem, it’s worth its weight in gold“, underlined the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in a press release published Thursday. “The idea is simply that this excrement fertilizes the oceans just like cows and sheep do on land.“. The researchers therefore analyzed the faeces of fin whales harpooned by whalers, Norway being one of the few countries in the world to authorize commercial whaling of these cetaceans.
The approximately 15,000 whales that migrate each summer to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, in the Arctic, release around 600 tonnes of excrement on the surface of the water every day, at a rate of around 40 kg per animal. These daily droppings release, according to the study, about 10 tons of phosphorus and seven tons of nitrogen, essential nutrients for the growth of phytoplankton, these microscopic algae which, by photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide to transform it into oxygen.
Read alsoWhen Greenland was a green forest
The scientists concluded that whale droppings contribute 0.2 to 4% of daily primary production (phytoplankton production) in the Svalbard region. “The true contribution of whales is probably higher because these estimates do not include urine, which is very rich in nitrogen.“, told AFP the head of research, Kjell Gundersen. However, each fin whale — an animal weighing 40-50 tons in adulthood that feeds by filtration by swallowing large quantities of water — releases “several hundred liters of urine” per day.
Research in this area continues. “If we have fewer whales, there is a risk that there will be less fertilization of the surface of the oceans“, argued Kjell Gundersen. “However, an increased production of phytoplankton means more CO2 absorbed“. And therefore an infinitesimal fraction of global warming less.
TO HAVE ALSO – Quirky: a labrador kisses a friendly whale shark