National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Photo: Amazon's Low Salt Content Keeps Carbon Emissions at Bay


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A mere sprinkling of salt in the rain forest can encourage an explosion of ants (above, ants swarm to a saltwater vial in the Peruvian Amazon), a November 2009 study says.

The research shows that adding salt can not only speed up decomposition, but can affect animals further up the food chain.

Photograph courtesy S.P. Yanoviak