Category: soil carbon storage and climate change

biogeochemistry, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

Soil carbon and microbes in the warming tropics

Andrew T. Nottingham, Emanuel Gloor, Erland Bååth, Patrick Meir This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. The Earth’s carbon store held in soils is at risk of being destabilized by a warming climate, and a third of that store resides in the tropics. However, whether tropical soils sequester or release carbon in warming world will depend … Continue reading Soil carbon and microbes in the warming tropics

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In the scanning electron microscope are soil bacteria living on the surface of a mineral grain in the rhizosphere of an annual grass plant. As these microbes die, their dead biomass may sorb to the mineral surface, and form mineral-associated organic matter – one of the largest carbon pools on the planet. Understanding the plant and microbial traits that control mineral-associated organic matter formation – and their response to climate change – is a major current research priority. (Details on the project that supported the image below, and related work: https://sc-programs.llnl.gov/biological-and-environmental-research-at-llnl/soil-microbiome) Photo Credit: Noah Sokol/Christy Ramon
ecosystems ecology, Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

What will happen to the massive store of carbon in Earth’s mineral soils as our climate changes?

Noah W. Sokol, Emily D. Whalen, Andrea Jilling, Cynthia Kallenbach, Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Katerina Georgiou This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Earth’s soils hold a massive amount of carbon – more than the world’s vegetation and atmosphere combined. But the fate of this carbon is uncertain – particularly the portion that is bound up in close … Continue reading What will happen to the massive store of carbon in Earth’s mineral soils as our climate changes?

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Field site to assess the intensity of the soil priming effect in situ along a one year period (photo from PA Maron, ANR DIMIMOS project)
community ecology, Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

What is the Priming effect, how is it generated and how will it impact soil carbon sequestration in a future submitted to global change?

Laetitia Bernard, Isabelle Basile-Doelsch, Delphine Derrien, Nicolas Fanin, Sébastien Fontaine, Bertrand Guenet, Battle Karimi, Claire Marsden, and Pierre-Alain Maron This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. The priming effect corresponds to a change in the rate of degradation of soil organic matter induced by a new supply of fresh organic matter. It was first observed in … Continue reading What is the Priming effect, how is it generated and how will it impact soil carbon sequestration in a future submitted to global change?

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Four scales at which models consider soil microbes: the Earth system, ecosystem, community, and physiological scales.
Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

Understanding the role of microbes in the Earth’s carbon cycle

Joe Wan, Thomas W. Crowther This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Soil microbes release massive amounts of carbon from organic compounds in soil. However, this flow of carbon is a major source of uncertainty in the models we currently use to predict Earth’s climate. This article reviews how researchers who develop mathematical models can address … Continue reading Understanding the role of microbes in the Earth’s carbon cycle

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We are investigating how soil microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and archaea, represented in magnifying glass) respond to changing moisture levels. In different types of biomes (wet systems, dry, or those with variable rainfall), we expect the microbes to respire different amounts of carbon depending on the moisture levels. Models use such curves to predict carbon dynamics in the future, but there is no consensus on which is the correct shape or whether it differs across biomes.
Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

Microbes, memory, and moisture: predicting microbial moisture responses and their impact on carbon cycling

Sarah Evans, Steve Allison, Christine Hawkes This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Soils store a larger amount of carbon than plants and emit more carbon than humans annually. Moisture is a big determinant of whether soil microorganisms release (by respiration) this carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO2), or sequester it in the soil. … Continue reading Microbes, memory, and moisture: predicting microbial moisture responses and their impact on carbon cycling

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Location of enzymes in soils and their importance for carbon and nutrient cycling
community ecology, Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

Soil enzymes in response to climate warming: mechanisms and feedbacks

Nicolas Fanin, Maria Mooshammer, Marie Sauvadet, Cheng Meng, Gaël Alvarez, Laëtitia Bernard, Isabelle Bertrand, Evgenia Blagodatskayah, Lucie Bon, Sébastien Fontaine, Shuli Niu, Gwenaelle Lashermes, Tania L. Maxwell, Michael Weintraub, Lisa Wingate, Daryl Moorhead, Andrew Nottingham This is a plain language summary of a Functional Ecology research article which is published here. Soil enzymes are central to ecosystem processes because they mediate numerous reactions that are … Continue reading Soil enzymes in response to climate warming: mechanisms and feedbacks

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Microbial necromass (dead microbial residues) is a large component of soil carbon, although it’s production and cycling in soil will differ strongly between (for example) Arctic tundra (a), and temperate agricultural grasslands (b). Greater insight into this key component will help us predict and possibly protect soil carbon response to climate change.
community ecology, Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

Deconstructing the microbial necromass continuum to inform soil carbon sequestration

Kate M. Buckeridge, Courtney Creamer & Jeanette Whitaker This is a Plain Language Summary of a Functional Ecology article which is published here. Necromass (dead microbes) in soil is now recognised as a large and long-lasting portion of soil organic carbon, the largest store of carbon on land. Necromass is a dynamic–not static–store of carbon in soil, because it is eaten by other microbes, respired … Continue reading Deconstructing the microbial necromass continuum to inform soil carbon sequestration

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Caption: Rainout shelters in place at the Loma Ridge Global Change Experiment in Irvine, California, US to simulate drought. This experiment is in place since 2007 to study the impact of long-term drought on Mediterranean ecosystems consisting of a mosaic of grasses and shrubs. Seen in the image is Dr. Ashish Malik collecting plant litter bags that were installed to study microbial functions and decomposition rates. Such long-term field experiments are crucial in improving our understanding of ecosystem-level changes and feedbacks in response to climate change factors. Image credit: Ashish Malik
ecosystems ecology, Reviews, soil carbon storage and climate change, Special Features

How will drought impact soil microbes and ecosystem carbon balance?

Malik, Ashish; Bouskill, Nicholas This is a Plain Language Summary of a Research Article. Read the Research in full here. Climate change is causing increased occurrences of droughts that impact the cycling of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. How droughts impact microbial processes in soil and its consequences for ecosystem carbon balance is hard to measure. To do so, we must better understand the response of … Continue reading How will drought impact soil microbes and ecosystem carbon balance?

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