Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change

@article{Davidson2006TemperatureSO,
  title={Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change},
  author={Eric A. Davidson and Ivan A. Janssens},
  journal={Nature},
  year={2006},
  volume={440},
  pages={165-173}
}
Significantly more carbon is stored in the world's soils—including peatlands, wetlands and permafrost—than is present in the atmosphere. Disagreement exists, however, regarding the effects of climate change on global soil carbon stocks. If carbon stored belowground is transferred to the atmosphere by a warming-induced acceleration of its decomposition, a positive feedback to climate change would occur. Conversely, if increases of plant-derived carbon inputs to soils exceed increases in… 
View on Nature
nature.com
5,109 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
404
Background Citations
2,364
Methods Citations
162
Results Citations
120

5,109 Citations

Temperature Sensitivity of Soil Carbon Decomposition Molecular Controls and Environmental Feedbacks

The world’s soils contain three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Thus, any changes in this carbon pool may affect atmospheric CO2 levels with implications for climate change. Anthropogenic…

Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon fractions in boreal forest soil.

TLDR
It is shown that the temperature sensitivity of decomposition increases remarkably from the youngest annually cycling fraction to a decadally cycling one but decreases again to a centennially cycling fraction in boreal forest soil.

Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition

The world's soils contain three times as much carbon as the atmosphere. Thus, any changes in this carbon pool may affect atmospheric CO₂ levels with implications for climate change. Anthropogenic…

Biogeochemistry: Projections of the soil-carbon deficit

TLDR
The authors find that the effects of warming are contingent upon the size of the initial soil carbon stock, with considerable carbon losses occurring in high-latitude areas.

Temperature sensitivity of mineral soil carbon decomposition in shrub and graminoid tundra, west Greenland

BackgroundShrub expansion is transforming Arctic tundra landscapes, but the impact on the large pool of carbon stored in high-latitude soils is poorly understood. Soil carbon decomposition is a…

Diminished soil functions occur under simulated climate change in a sup-alpine pasture, but heterotrophic temperature sensitivity indicates microbial resilience.

Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration rates enhanced by microbial community response

TLDR
It is found that the substantial carbon stores in Arctic and boreal soils could be more vulnerable to climate warming than currently predicted.

Temperature sensitivity of litter and soil organic matter decomposition: perspective of soil microbial community structure and function

Climate and vegetation effects on the northern peatland carbon cycle

Anthropogenic emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane have stimulated a rise in global surface temperature of 0.76 �C since the turn of the 20th Century. Such climate warming has…

Effects of soil moisture on the temperature sensitivity of heterotrophic respiration vary seasonally in an old‐field climate change experiment

Microbial decomposition of soil organic matter produces a major flux of CO2 from terrestrial ecosystems and can act as a feedback to climate change. Although climate‐carbon models suggest that…
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 126 REFERENCES

Biogeochemistry: Soil warming and organic carbon content

TLDR
It is believed that positive feedback to global warming is still a concern and Giardina and Ryan's results are undermined by methodological factors and also by their turnover times being estimated on the assumption that soil carbon exists as a single homogeneous pool, which can mask the dynamics of a smaller, temperature-dependent soil-carbon fraction.

Will changes in soil organic carbon act as a positive or negative feedback on global warming?

The world's soils contain about 1500 Gt of organic carbon to a depth of 1m and a further 900 Gt from 1--2m. A change of total soil organic carbon by just 10% would thus be equivalent to all the…

The temperature dependence of soil organic matter decomposition, and the effect of global warming on soil organic C storage

Soil warming and organic carbon content

Soil warming and organic carbon content Soils store two or three times more carbon than exists in the atmosphere as CO2, and it is thought that the temperature sensitivity of decomposing organic…

Soil warming and carbon-cycle feedbacks to the climate system.

TLDR
It is shown that whereas soil warming accelerates soil organic matter decay and carbon dioxide fluxes to the atmosphere, this response is small and short-lived for a mid-latitude forest, because of the limited size of the labile soil carbon pool.

CO2 EMISSIONS FROM SOIL IN RESPONSE TO CLIMATIC WARMING ARE OVERESTIMATED:THE DECOMPOSITION OF OLD SOIL ORGANIC MATTER IS TOLERANT OF TEMPERATURE

TLDR
Measurements of the amount and age of soil C and the decomposition of litter on temperature gradients and a simple model describing soil C dynamics are used to show that the decompositions of old soil organic matter is resistant to changes in temperature.

Long-term sensitivity of soil carbon turnover to warming

TLDR
Evidence is presented that non-labile SOC is more sensitive to temperature than labile SOC, implying that the long-term positive feedback of soil decomposition in a warming world may be even stronger than predicted by global models.

Acclimatization of soil respiration to warming in a tall grass prairie

TLDR
Observations in a tall grass prairie ecosystem in the US Great Plains indicate that the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration decreases—or acclimatizes—under warming and that the acclim atization is greater at high temperatures, which may weaken the positive feedback between the terrestrial carbon cycle and climate.

Soil Carbon Storage Response to Temperature: an Hypothesis

TLDR
A simple analytical model and a complex multi-pool soil carbon model are presented, which separate transfers between pools due to physico-chemical reactions from those associated with microbial respiration.

Uncertainties in the temperature sensitivity of decomposition in tropical and subtropical ecosystems: Implications for models

Tropical ecosystems play a central role in the global carbon cycle. Large changes in tropical temperature over geologic time and the significant responses of tropical ecosystems to shorter‐term…
...