skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Global patterns and controls of soil organic carbon dynamics as simulated by multiple terrestrial biosphere models: Current status and future directions

Journal Article · · Global Biogeochemical Cycles
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GB005021· OSTI ID:1209692
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [5];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [5];  [1];  [5];  [6];  [11];  [1] more »;  [5];  [12];  [5];  [1];  [13];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [14] « less
  1. Auburn Univ., AL (United States). International Center for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences
  2. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability and Dept. of Civil Engineering, Construction Management, and Environmental Engineering
  3. Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States). School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability and Center for Ecosystem Science and Society
  4. Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA (United States). Dept. of Global Ecology
  5. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Environmental Sciences Division and Climate Change Science Inst.
  6. Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Gif sur Yvette (France)
  7. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Div.
  8. National Inst. for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba (Japan)
  9. Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States). Dept. for Atmospheric Sciences
  10. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Depart. of Hydraulic Engineering
  11. Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT (United States). Dept. of Ecology
  12. National Snow and Ice Data Center; Boulder, CO (United States)
  13. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Mountain View, CA (United States). Ames Research Center,
  14. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
+ Show Author Affiliations

Soil is the largest organic carbon (C) pool of terrestrial ecosystems, and C loss from soil accounts for a large proportion of land-atmosphere C exchange. Therefore, a small change in soil organic C (SOC) can affect atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and climate change. In the past decades, a wide variety of studies have been conducted to quantify global SOC stocks and soil C exchange with the atmosphere through site measurements, inventories, and empirical/process-based modeling. However, these estimates are highly uncertain, and identifying major driving forces controlling soil C dynamics remains a key research challenge. This study has compiled century-long (1901-2010) estimates of SOC storage and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) from 10 terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) in the Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project and two observation-based data sets. The 10 TBM ensemble shows that global SOC estimate ranges from 425 to 2111Pg C (1Pg=1015g) with a median value of 1158 Pg C in 2010. The models estimate a broad range of Rh from 35 to 69PgCyr-1 with a median value of 51 Pg Cyr-1 during 2001-2010. The largest uncertainty in SOC stocks exists in the 40-65 degrees N latitude whereas the largest cross-model divergence in Rh are in the tropics. The modeled SOC change during 1901-2010 ranges from -70 Pg C to 86 Pg C, but in some models the SOC change has a different sign from the change of total C stock, implying very different contribution of vegetation and soil pools in determining the terrestrial C budget among models. The model ensemble-estimated mean residence time of SOC shows a reduction of 3.4 years over the past century, which accelerate C cycling through the land biosphere. All the models agreed that climate and land use changes decreased SOC stocks, while elevated atmospheric CO2 and nitrogen deposition over intact ecosystems increased SOC stocks even though the responses varied significantly among models. Lastly, model representations of temperature and moisture sensitivity, nutrient limitation, and land use partially explain the divergent estimates of global SOC stocks and soil C fluxes in this study. In addition, a major source of systematic error in model estimations relates to nonmodeled SOC storage in wetlands and peatlands, as well as to old C storage in deep soil layers.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; NNX10AG01A; NNH10AN681; AC05-00OR22725; AC05-76RLO1830; SC0006706; AC02-05CH11231; OCI-0725070; ACI-1238993
OSTI ID:
1209692
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1348308
Journal Information:
Global Biogeochemical Cycles, Vol. 29, Issue 6; ISSN 0886-6236
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 166 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (68)

Global soil carbon: understanding and managing the largest terrestrial carbon pool journal February 2014
Carbon dynamics in the Amazonian Basin: Integration of eddy covariance and ecophysiological data with a land surface model journal December 2013
Evaluation of ecosystem dynamics, plant geography and terrestrial carbon cycling in the LPJ dynamic global vegetation model journal February 2003
Soil carbon sequestration and land-use change: processes and potential journal March 2000
Carbon residence time dominates uncertainty in terrestrial vegetation responses to future climate and atmospheric CO 2 journal December 2013
China's crop productivity and soil carbon storage as influenced by multifactor global change journal June 2012
Analysis of Factors Controlling Soil Organic Matter Levels in Great Plains Grasslands1 journal January 1987
China's terrestrial carbon balance: Contributions from multiple global change factors: MECHANISMS OF TERRESTRIAL CARBON BALANCE journal March 2011
Global pattern of soil carbon losses due to the conversion of forests to agricultural land journal February 2014
Pattern and variation of C:N:P ratios in China’s soils: a synthesis of observational data journal October 2009
Evaluating litter decomposition in earth system models with long-term litterbag experiments: an example using the Community Land Model version 4 (CLM4) journal October 2012
Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis journal April 2002
Global covariation of carbon turnover times with climate in terrestrial ecosystems journal September 2014
Soil organic carbon fractions after 16-years of applications of fertilizers and organic manure in a Typic Rhodalfs in semi-arid tropics journal July 2009
Nutrient limitation reduces land carbon uptake in simulations with a model of combined carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling journal January 2012
The Vertical Distribution of soil Organic Carbon and its Relation to Climate and Vegetation journal April 2000
Recent climate warming forces contrasting growth responses of white spruce at treeline in Alaska through temperature thresholds journal October 2004
The role of fire in the boreal carbon budget journal December 2000
Carbon cycling in soil journal December 2004
Modeling and measuring the effects of disturbance history and climate on carbon and water budgets in evergreen needleleaf forests journal December 2002
Causes of variation in soil carbon simulations from CMIP5 Earth system models and comparison with observations journal January 2013
Climate–Carbon Cycle Feedback Analysis: Results from the C 4 MIP Model Intercomparison journal July 2006
Stabilization mechanisms of soil organic matter: Implications for C-saturation of soils journal January 2002
Reduced growth of Alaskan white spruce in the twentieth century from temperature-induced drought stress journal June 2000
Does conversion of forest to agricultural land change soil carbon and nitrogen? a review of the literature journal February 2002
Sensitivity of global terrestrial gross primary production to hydrologic states simulated by the Community Land Model using two runoff parameterizations journal August 2014
Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region: SOIL ORGANIC CARBON POOLS journal June 2009
Remote Sensing Evaluation of CLM4 GPP for the Period 2000–09 journal August 2012
Carbon-nitrogen interactions regulate climate-carbon cycle feedbacks: results from an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model journal January 2009
Historical variations in terrestrial biospheric carbon storage journal March 1997
Annual fluxes of carbon from deforestation and regrowth in the Brazilian Amazon journal January 2000
Robustness and uncertainty in terrestrial ecosystem carbon response to CMIP5 climate change projections journal October 2012
The impact of lateral carbon fluxes on the European carbon balance journal January 2008
The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate journal April 1992
A dynamic global vegetation model for studies of the coupled atmosphere-biosphere system: DVGM FOR COUPLED CLIMATE STUDIES journal February 2005
Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security journal June 2004
The North American Carbon Program Multi-Scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 1: Overview and experimental design journal January 2013
Global and regional importance of the tropical peatland carbon pool: TROPICAL PEATLAND CARBON POOL journal January 2011
Changing ecophysiological processes and carbon budget in East Asian ecosystems under near-future changes in climate: implications for long-term monitoring from a process-based model journal February 2010
Interpreting, measuring, and modeling soil respiration journal March 2005
Quantitative aspects of heterogeneity in soil organic matter dynamics in a cool-temperate Japanese beech forest: a radiocarbon-based approach journal March 2009
The North American Carbon Program Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 2: Environmental driver data journal January 2014
Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change journal March 2006
Nitrogen attenuation of terrestrial carbon cycle response to global environmental factors: NITROGEN ATTENUATION OF CARBON CYCLE journal December 2009
Uncertainties in CMIP5 Climate Projections due to Carbon Cycle Feedbacks journal January 2014
Evidence that decomposition rates of organic carbon in mineral soil do not vary with temperature journal April 2000
Response of microbial decomposition to spin-up explains CMIP5 soil carbon range until 2100 journal January 2014
Harmonized soil profile data for applications at global and continental scales: updates to the WISE database journal June 2009
Century-Scale Responses of Ecosystem Carbon Storage and Flux to Multiple Environmental Changes in the Southern United States journal April 2012
Effects of parameter uncertainties on the modeling of terrestrial biosphere dynamics: PARAMETER-BASED UNCERTAINTY OF A DGVM journal September 2005
Anthropogenic perturbation of the carbon fluxes from land to ocean journal June 2013
Terrestrial mechanisms of interannual CO 2 variability : INTERANNUAL CO journal March 2005
Carbon emissions from land use and land-cover change journal January 2012
Contribution of permafrost soils to the global carbon budget journal February 2013
The implications of exoenzyme activity on microbial carbon and nitrogen limitation in soil: a theoretical model journal April 2003
Permafrost carbon-climate feedbacks accelerate global warming journal August 2011
Carbon–nitrogen interactions on land at global scales: current understanding in modelling climate biosphere feedbacks journal October 2011
The Community Land Model underestimates land-use CO 2 emissions by neglecting soil disturbance from cultivation journal January 2014
Evaluating soil biogeochemistry parameterizations in Earth system models with observations: Soil Biogeochemistry in ESMs journal March 2014
The annual net flux of carbon to the atmosphere from changes in land use 1850-1990* journal April 1999
Plant species traits are the predominant control on litter decomposition rates within biomes worldwide journal October 2008
The global carbon dioxide flux in soil respiration and its relationship to vegetation and climate journal January 1992
The annual net flux of carbon to the atmosphere from changes in land use 1850–1990 journal January 1999
Contribution of permafrost soils to the global carbon budget other January 2013
The North American Carbon Program Multi-scale synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 1: Overview and experimental design journal January 2013
Robustness and uncertainty in terrestrial ecosystem carbon response to CMIP5 climate change projections text January 2012
The North American Carbon Program Multi-scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 2: Environmental driver data journal January 2013
Response of microbial decomposition to spin-up explains CMIP5 soil carbon range until 2100 journal January 2014

Cited By (47)

Increased influence of nitrogen limitation on CO2 emissions from future land use and land use change journal September 2015
Age‐dependent forest carbon sink: Estimation via inverse modeling journal December 2015
Comparison of effects of cold‐region soil/snow processes and the uncertainties from model forcing data on permafrost physical characteristics journal March 2016
Effects of disturbance on the carbon dioxide balance of an anthropogenic peatland in northern Patagonia journal August 2019
Assessment of Sequestered Organic Carbon and Its Pools Under Different Agricultural Land-Uses in the Semi-Arid Soils of South-Western Punjab, India journal December 2019
The power of language: Functional brain network topology of deaf and hearing in relation to sign language experience journal March 2019
Plant Feedback Aggravates Soil Organic Carbon Loss Associated With Wind Erosion in Northwest China journal April 2019
Unexpectedly large impact of forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass journal December 2017
The global significance of omitting soil erosion from soil organic carbon cycling schemes journal October 2015
Microbial carbon use efficiency predicted from genome-scale metabolic models journal August 2019
Atmosphere–soil carbon transfer as a function of soil depth journal July 2018
N-P Fertilization Stimulates Anaerobic Selenium Reduction in an End-Pit Lake journal September 2017
Tropical forest soil carbon stocks do not increase despite 15 years of doubled litter inputs journal December 2019
Quality of life in primary progressive aphasia: What do we know and what can we do next? journal June 2018
Missing pieces to modeling the Arctic-Boreal puzzle journal February 2018
Matrix approach to land carbon cycle modeling: A case study with the Community Land Model journal November 2017
Carbon cycle confidence and uncertainty: Exploring variation among soil biogeochemical models journal November 2017
Long-term terrestrial carbon dynamics in the Midwestern United States during 1850-2015: Roles of land use and cover change and agricultural management journal February 2018
Large uncertainty in carbon uptake potential of land-based climate-change mitigation efforts journal April 2018
Hygrothermal assessment of north-facing, cold attic spaces under the eaves with varying structural roof scenarios journal December 2019
Childhood hearing impairment and its associated factors in sub-Saharan Africa in the 21st century: A systematic review and meta-analysis journal January 2020
Self-Reported Hearing Loss and Pure Tone Audiometry for Screening in Primary Health Care Clinics journal January 2018
Plant Seed Proteins: Chemistry, Technology and Applications journal August 2018
The Understanding of Scalar Implicatures in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Dichotomized Responses to Violations of Informativeness journal July 2018
Assessment of Spatial Representativeness of Eddy Covariance Flux Data from Flux Tower to Regional Grid journal September 2016
20th century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: tree-ring-based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models journal January 2017
Stable isotopic constraints on global soil organic carbon turnover journal January 2018
Global soil–climate–biome diagram: linking surface soil properties to climate and biota journal January 2019
Ideas and perspectives: Carbon leaks from flooded land: do we need to replumb the inland water active pipe? journal January 2019
Global spatiotemporal distribution of soil respiration modeled using a global database journal January 2015
Disequilibrium of terrestrial ecosystem CO2 budget caused by disturbance-induced emissions and non-CO2 carbon export flows: a global model assessment journal January 2019
Data-mining analysis of the global distribution of soil carbon in observational databases and Earth system models journal January 2017
A vertical representation of soil carbon in the JULES land surface scheme (vn4.3_permafrost) with a focus on permafrost regions journal January 2017
Coupling the Canadian Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (CTEM v. 2.0) to Environment and Climate Change Canada's greenhouse gas forecast model (v.107-glb) journal January 2018
Evaluating the E3SM land model version 0 (ELMv0) at a temperate forest site using flux and soil water measurements journal January 2019
Greater soil carbon stocks and faster turnover rates with increasing agricultural productivity journal January 2017
Toward inventory-based estimates of soil organic carbon in forests of the United States journal April 2017
Spatial Predictions and Associated Uncertainty of Annual Soil Respiration at the Global Scale journal December 2019
Evaluation of simulated soil carbon dynamics in Arctic-Boreal ecosystems journal February 2020
The power of language: functional brain network topology of deaf and hearing in relation to sign language experience posted_content June 2018
Global spatiotemporal distribution of soil respiration modeled using a global database journal January 2015
Global satellite-driven estimates of heterotrophic respiration journal January 2019
Description and Validation of the Simple, Efficient, Dynamic, Global, Ecological Simulator (SEDGES v.1.0) posted_content May 2017
20th century changes in carbon isotopes and water-use efficiency: tree-ring-based evaluation of the CLM4.5 and LPX-Bern models text January 2017
Stable isotopic constraints on global soil organic carbon turnover posted_content September 2017
Assimilation of repeated woody biomass observations constrains decadal ecosystem carbon cycle uncertainty in aggrading forests: CONSTRAINING BIOMASS AND SOIL C CYCLES journal March 2017
Description and validation of the Simple, Efficient, Dynamic, Global, Ecological Simulator (SEDGES v.1.0) journal January 2018

Similar Records

Global patterns and controls of soil organic carbon dynamics as simulated by multiple terrestrial biosphere models. Current status and future directions
Journal Article · Fri Jun 05 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Global Biogeochemical Cycles · OSTI ID:1209692
+26 more
Carbon cost of plant nitrogen acquisition: global carbon cycle impact from an improved plant nitrogen cycle in the Community Land Model
Journal Article · Wed Jan 06 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Global Change Biology · OSTI ID:1209692
+1 more
Conservation agriculture based on diversified and high-performance production system leads to soil carbon sequestration in subtropical environments
Journal Article · Thu Jan 24 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Cleaner Production · OSTI ID:1209692
+7 more

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
soil organic carbon (SOC)
heterotrophic respiration (Rh)
mean residence time (MRT)
soil carbon dynamics model
belowground processes
uncertainty