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Title:
Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change
Authors:
Davidson, Eric A.; Janssens, Ivan A.
Affiliation:
AA(The Woods Hole Research Center, PO Box 296, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA), AB(Department of Biology, University of Antwerpen, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610, Wilrijk, Belgium)
Publication:
Nature, Volume 440, Issue 7081, pp. 165-173 (2006). (Nature Homepage)
Publication Date:
03/2006
Origin:
NATURE
DOI:
10.1038/nature04514
Bibliographic Code:
2006Natur.440..165D

Abstract

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 decomposition, the feedback would be negative. Despite much research, a consensus has not yet emerged on the temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition. Unravelling the feedback effect is particularly difficult, because the diverse soil organic compounds exhibit a wide range of kinetic properties, which determine the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of their decomposition. Moreover, several environmental constraints obscure the intrinsic temperature sensitivity of substrate decomposition, causing lower observed `apparent' temperature sensitivity, and these constraints may, themselves, be sensitive to climate.
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