Five years of whole-soil warming led to loss of subsoil carbon stocks and increased CO 2 efflux
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- Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
- Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland.
- Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA., Energy Resources Group, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Subsoils below 20 cm are an important reservoir in the global carbon cycle, but little is known about their vulnerability under climate change. We measured a statistically significant loss of subsoil carbon (-33 ± 11%) in warmed plots of a conifer forest after 4.5 years of whole-soil warming (4°C). The loss of subsoil carbon was primarily from unprotected particulate organic matter. Warming also stimulated a sustained 30 ± 4% increase in soil CO2 efflux due to increased CO2 production through the whole-soil profile. The observed in situ decline in subsoil carbon stocks with warming is now definitive evidence of a positive soil carbon-climate feedback, which could not be concluded based on increases in CO2 effluxes alone. The high sensitivity of subsoil carbon and the different responses of soil organic matter pools suggest that models must represent these heterogeneous soil dynamics to accurately predict future feedbacks to warming.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC-0001234; AC02-05CH11231; SC0001234
- OSTI ID:
- 1784377
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1807511
- Journal Information:
- Science Advances, Journal Name: Science Advances Vol. 7 Journal Issue: 21; ISSN 2375-2548
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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