The phrase "big things come in small packages" may be one of the biggest cliches in the English language, but that doesn't make it any less true especially when you talk about bodies of water and their abilities to absorb carbon.

In a study led by Iowa State University limologist John Downing, it was discovered that small ponds and lakes are responsible for absorbing as much atmospheric carbon as the world's oceans. Downing explains that this is so because smaller bodies of freshwater tend to have a higher absorption rate of the element.

Ponds and lakes absorb carbon 20-50 times the rate at which trees trap it, says Downing. He adds "aquatic ecosystems play a disproportionately large role in the global carbon budget."

Jeremy Biggs, Pond Conservation director of policy and research agrees. He comments "it may be that ponds will be the modern equivalent of the swamps that formed coal in the past."

"But before we all rush into making ponds to trap carbon we need to do some basic research here in the UK," he cautions. "If the rate of carbon uptake in ponds in Europe is the same as that found in the USA study, we may well have discovered an important new natural way of trapping carbon."

This is certainly an interesting discovery, especially at a time when global warming has been established as a major threat, with carbon emissions being the culprit. Add to that the possibility of this newfound knowledge being applied to finding new energy sources, and we have a very promising new body of research to look into.