14C evidence that millennial and fast-cycling soil carbon are equally sensitive to warming

Vaughn, Lydia J. S.; Torn, Margaret S.

doi:10.1038/s41558-019-0468-y

¹⁴C evidence that millennial and fast-cycling soil carbon are equally sensitive to warming

Journal Article · Mon May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Nature Climate Change

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0468-y· OSTI ID:1572020

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Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

The Arctic is expected to shift from a sink to a source of atmospheric CO₂ this century due to climate-induced increases in soil carbon mineralization1. The magnitude of this effect remains uncertain, largely because temperature sensitivities of organic matter decomposition and the distribution of these temperature sensitivities across soil carbon pools are not well understood. Here, a new analytical method with natural abundance radiocarbon was used to evaluate temperature sensitivities across soil carbon pools. With soils from $$Utqia\dot{g}vik$$ (formerly Barrow), Alaska, an incubation experiment was used to evaluate soil carbon age and decomposability, disentangle the effects of temperature and substrate depletion on carbon mineralization, and compare temperature sensitivities of fast-cycling and slow-cycling carbon. Old, historically stable carbon was shown to be vulnerable to decomposition under warming. Using radiocarbon to differentiate between slow-cycling and fast-cycling carbon, temperature sensitivity was found to be invariant among pools, with a Q₁₀ of ~2 irrespective of native decomposition rate. Lastly, these findings suggest that mechanisms other than chemical recalcitrance mediate the effect of warming on soil carbon mineralization.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1572020

Journal Information:: Nature Climate Change, Journal Name: Nature Climate Change Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 9; ISSN 1758-678X

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Permafrost soil complexity evaluated by laboratory imaging Vis - NIR spectroscopy Mueller, Carsten W.; Steffens, Markus; Buddenbaum, Henning European Journal of Soil Science https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12927	journal	January 2020

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