Without really realizing it, echidnas contribute to the fight against climate change.

 

(David Cunningham/Getty Images)

Australian soils are drained of nutrients and organic matter, including carbon, after 200 years of European agricultural practices.

Part of the solution could be held by the native Australian echidna. Echidnas forage for ants by digging trenches, furrows, and depressions in the soil. Our research has revealed the major environmental benefits that soil engineering could provide.

Digging by echidnas traps leaves and seeds in the dirt. This improves soil quality, encourages plant growth, and holds carbon in the soil instead of the atmosphere.

The significance of this procedure cannot be overstated. We can greatly improve soil quality and enhance climate change efforts by enhancing echidna habitat.

Nature's excavators

Many animals improve the health of the soil by digging extensively. Not only can these ecosystem engineers help soils, but they also help plants and other species.

Most of Australia's digging animals are extinct, limited, or endangered. The echidna, on the other hand, is still fairly common in most ecosystems across much of the continent.

Echidnas are heavy scavengers. According to long-term monitoring at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy's Scotia Sanctuary in southwest New South Wales, one echidna carries about 7 tons of soil each year, or about 8 trailer loads.

Echidnas can leave soil depressions up to 50 centimeters (19.69 inches) wide and 15 centimeters deep. When ants are scarce, as they are in severely degraded areas, echidnas dig deeper to locate termites, resulting in even larger pits.

This earth-moving capability inadvertently serves another vital function: seed-to-water matchmaking.

Playing cupid

Seeds must come into contact with water and soil nutrients in order to germinate. Our experiment demonstrated how echidna digging aids in this process.

We wanted to see if seeds would get stuck in echidna pits after it rained. In a semi-arid woodland near Cobar, New South Wales, where we'd dug pits close to those made by echidnas, we carefully marked various seeds with different colored dyes and put them on the soil surface. After that, we simulated a rainstorm.

The majority of seeds washed into the pits, and those that began there remained. The experiment demonstrated how echidna pits allow seeds to meet for water and nutrients, increasing their chances of germinating and surviving in Australia's poor soils.

Plant and soil hotspots emerge from the recovering pits, allowing plants to spread throughout the landscape.

Pits also have distinct microbial species and soil invertebrates, according to our research. These are most likely essential in the breakdown of organic matter and the production of soil carbon.

It's no surprise that many human attempts to restore soil look like the natural structures built by animals like echidnas.

An echidna in its burrow. (slowmotiongli/Getty Images)

Echidnas as carbon farmers

Echidna digging also helps boost carbon in depleted soils, according to our recent study.

As organic matter is exposed to strong ultraviolet light on the soil surface, it is broken down, releasing carbon and nitrogen into the atmosphere. When echidnas forage, however, the stuff they find is hidden in the dirt. Microbes break down the material and release carbon and nitrogen into the soil as it is exposed to them.

This doesn't happen right away. According to our findings, it takes 16-18 months for carbon levels in pits to surpass those in bare soils.

The entire process of echidna digging, capturing, and accumulating litter, carbon, nutrients, and plant hotspots results in a patchwork of litter, carbon, nutrients, and plant hotspots. These fertile islands are essential for good, functioning ecosystems, and their importance will grow as the world becomes hotter and drier.

Harness the power of echidnas

Soil regeneration can be costly and inefficient over large swaths of ground. Echidnas provide a cost-effective restoration alternative, and this opportunity should be capitalized on.

Echidna communities in Australia are currently unaffected. However, landscape maintenance is needed to ensure that echidna populations remain safe in the future.

Since echidnas like to hide in hollow trees, removing fallen timber reduces their habitat and food sources. To avoid habitat loss, restrictions on practices such as firewood removal are required.

Echidnas are often killed on our roads due to their slow speed. Shrubs and ground plants should be planted between patches of native bush to create vegetation corridors, allowing echidnas to safely travel from one location to the next.

Although an echidna's sharp spines provide some defense against natural predators, such as foxes and cats, they are less effective against introduced predators. As a result, strategies to combat these threats are also needed.

The unstable climate of Australia is rapidly deteriorating. Echidnas already play an important role in the ecosystem, and they should be preserved and nurtured to ensure that this continues.