00:03If you close your eyes and picture yourself in the forest, what do you hear?
00:09Birds chirping? The sound of wind flowing through the leaves?
00:12While these are no doubt signals of a healthy, biodiverse woodland,
00:15experts say there are other auditory indicators below our feet
00:18that can tell us whether or not a forest is healthy.
00:21Researchers found that by monitoring the vibrations of the ground in wooded areas,
00:25they could actually tell the difference between, say, a recently deforested area
00:28and one that was healthy and flourishing with biodiversity.
00:31They say this is an important step in better understanding and monitoring the ecology of wooded areas
00:36as all life on land begins and ends with the soil,
00:40meaning using echo acoustics to check up on underground biodiversity
00:43can not only help monitor and provide metrics for restoration efforts in certain areas
00:47long before plant and animal life in that area would provide any data,
00:51but it could also provide an early warning for areas that might be under threat,
00:54giving us a detection system far beyond the tertiary reactive ones we have currently.
00:59With the researchers writing for the conversation that it could also be a valuable tool
01:03as climate change worsens as well, as trees and forests are carbon sinks,
01:07taking in CO2 from the atmosphere.
01:09Meanwhile, deforested areas are known to emit carbon,
01:12as dead plants and animals give off CO2.
01:16of CART.
01:17of CART Graote
01:18of CART GEO
01:19and how is that time to forge a similar cost to the creation of the contour.
01:19of thinking only
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