Tea Bag Index - worldwide

Das Projekt Tea Bag Index wird von Wissenschaftlern und Citizen Scientists weltweit durchgeführt. Diese Experimente helfen, vergleichbare Daten auf globaler Ebene zu sammeln, insbesondere aus Regionen, in denen bisher keine solchen Daten erfasst wurden. Citizen Scientists können diese Methode nutzen und einen wichtigen Beitrag für Wissenschaft und Umwelt leisten, indem sie uns helfen, den globalen CO2-Kreislauf besser zu verstehen. Dies geschieht einfach durch die Bestimmung der Zersetzungsraten in verschiedenen Böden mit der Tea Bag Index Methode.

The decomposition of organic material is crucial for the growth and metabolism of plants and microorganisms: decomposition and mineralisation make important nutrients available. Decompostion also releases the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) back into the atmosphere. A rapid breakdown leads to increased CO2 emission levels, while slow decomposition increases carbon storage in the soil. Thus, it is of great value to collect more information on decomposition rates in different soils in order to develop a better understanding of the global CO2 cycle.

This Tea Bag Index method can also be used by Citizen Scientists  around the world to make a valuable contribution to science and the environment: they simply bury tea bags in the soil, dig them up  three months later and weigh them. The weight loss indicates how much plant material, in this case tea, has decomposed. This simple and cost-effective method for determining decomposition rates in soil is scientifically proven and several scientific initiatives have already been started in many countries around the globe.

These experiments  gather comparable data worldwide,so that comparisons between different regions and soils can be made possible.