Carbon Sinks and Sources on Land
Abstract Land plants can consume a lot of atmospheric carbon dioxide, thanks to the nutrients released by soil microbes and through symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Microbes are also instrumental in both making and degrading one of the largest carbon stock...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University PressNew York
2024
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197688564.003.0003 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58157663/oso-9780197688564-chapter-3.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract Land plants can consume a lot of atmospheric carbon dioxide, thanks to the nutrients released by soil microbes and through symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi. Microbes are also instrumental in both making and degrading one of the largest carbon stocks on the planet, soil organic matter (SOM). One large part of SOM is the dead remains from microbes, or necromass. Global warming threatens to undo the sequestration of carbon in SOM by stimulating degradation by microbes. The problem is acute for permafrost in the Arctic, which is warming faster than elsewhere on Earth. For now, models project that terrestrial habitats will continue to take up anthropogenic carbon dioxide due to carbon dioxide fertilization, yet many unknowns remain. What is clear is that the size of the terrestrial carbon sink depends in large part on microbes and their response to climate change. |
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