(1/8) 🚨Thrilled to share our new research, now published on the cover of @science.org ! 🌳🦠 We discovered that tree #Bark — largely regarded as inert — hosts vast #Microbial communities that actively interact with the atmosphere. 🧵👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

(2/8) Across 8 common Australian tree species (paperbarks, eucalypts, acacias, mangroves & more), bark contains trillions of microbial cells per m² — distinctly unique from soil or water communities.

(3/8) These bark microbes aren’t just living there — they’re active. Many use trace gases like #Hydrogen (H₂), #Methane (CH₄), and #CarbonMonoxide (CO) as #Carbon and energy sources.🦠

(4/8) Our lab and field experiments show bark microbes can remove multiple climate-relevant gases from the atmosphere, with particularly strong uptake and affinity for hydrogen.

(5/8) Why this matters: the global surface area of tree bark is immense — comparable to Earth’s land surface!! This points to a previously unrecognised, large-scale atmospheric sink. See video explainer📽️: www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5eV...

(6/8) These systems are dynamic. Under low-oxygen conditions inside bark, some microbes can switch to producing methane or hydrogen — meaning climate change (e.g. flooding, warming) could alter these processes...