A compound in feces may be developed as a biomarker to estimate how much methane is produced by cows and other animals.
“When it comes to calculating carbon budgets there is currently a lot of uncertainty surrounding animal methane contributions, particularly from wild ruminants,” Fiona Gill of the University of Leeds said.
“We’re quite good at measuring man-made CO2 emissions, but techniques to measure the animal production of methane—a much more potent greenhouse gas—have serious limitations.
"If we can identify a simple biomarker for methane production in animal stools, then we can use this along with information on diet and animal population numbers to estimate their total contribution to global methane levels.”
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