That means a big thing, a big development.

The brown methane eaters – “A big deal”: Spectacular discovery on tree bark raises new climate hope.

Microbes living in tree bark can “eat up” methane, a gas that is particularly harmful to the climate – that much was already known in research. But a new study now shows: The microbes’ hunger for methane is far greater than assumed…

While it has long been known that trees remove carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, thereby buffering man-made climate change, this new research reveals a surprising additional benefit of forests. Until now, it was assumed that the soil was the only terrestrial sink for methane.