AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers at the University of Texas believe llamas can help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Working with scientists in Peru, researchers studied what could happen when indigenous herders introduce llamas to land that has been exposed by retreating glaciers.
According to UT, land exposed by glacial melting initially has low-nutrient soil that is inhospitable to vegetation. But the researchers found that llamas could help fix that problem.
The researchers partnered with the Llama 2000 Asociación, a local community of farmers whose village had been affected by acid rock drainage. Working at the exposed edge of the Uruashraju glacier in the Cordillera Blanca, Peru, the team created eight 925-square-meter plots, half of which would house llamas and half of which would remain unoccupied control plots. They then monitored soil quality and plant species prevalence in the plots from 2019 to 2022.
Their research showed that when llamas were introduced, they helped accelerate soil fertility and plant succession.
By the end of three years of observation, the llama plots showed significantly increased soil organic carbon and nitrogen levels and a 57% increase in plant cover.
The increase in soil fertility on the llama plots can be attributed to the animals’ dung, fur and grazing, researchers said.
“No such experiment has been done like this in these areas, and at this altitude, though there have been grazing experiments with other types of grazing animals, and we know they can often be helpful for ecosystem management,” said Anaïs Zimmer, a recent Ph.D. graduate from UT and first author on the paper.
The full study is published in Nature Scientific Reports.