Red algae and fighting climate change

Kinley, R.D, et al., discovered in 2016 that red algae could play a part in helping to fight climate change.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 28 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Ruminant enteric methane is a significant source of this gas, meaning that the livestock sector has a large part to play in global methane emissions.

What Kinley et al. found in their study was

that some species of red macroalgae had antimethanogenic activity on in vitro fermentation within the stomachs of ruminant livestock when added to the livestock feed.

Kinley, R.D., et al., (2016). The red macroalgae Asparagopsis taxiformis is a potent natural antimethanogenic that reduces methane production during in vitro fermentation with rumen fluid. Animal Production Science. Volume 56, Issue 3. p.282-289. Available here.