Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils
Boreal ecosystems store 10-20% of global soil carbon and may warm by 4-7°C over the next century. Higher temperatures could increase the activity of boreal decomposers and indirectly affect decomposition through other ecosystem feedbacks. For example, permafrost melting will likely alleviate constra...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org/ark:/13030/qt2x77b8fj 2023-05-15T17:55:44+02:00 Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils Allison, SD Treseder, KK 362 - 374 2011-12-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x77b8fj unknown eScholarship, University of California qt2x77b8fj https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x77b8fj CC-BY CC-BY Fungal Ecology, vol 4, iss 6 Bacteria Boreal forest Climate warming Community composition Decomposition Feedbacks Fire Nitrogen Permafrost Soil carbon Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Microbiology article 2011 ftcdlib 2021-06-21T17:05:37Z Boreal ecosystems store 10-20% of global soil carbon and may warm by 4-7°C over the next century. Higher temperatures could increase the activity of boreal decomposers and indirectly affect decomposition through other ecosystem feedbacks. For example, permafrost melting will likely alleviate constraints on microbial decomposition and lead to greater soil CO2 emissions. However, wet boreal ecosystems underlain by permafrost are often CH4 sources, and permafrost thaw could ultimately result in drier soils that consume CH4, thereby offsetting some of the greenhouse warming potential of soil CO2 emissions. Climate change is also likely to increase winter precipitation and snow depth in boreal regions, which may stimulate decomposition by moderating soil temperatures under the snowpack. As temperatures and evapotranspiration increase in the boreal zone, fires may become more frequent, leading to additional permafrost loss from burned ecosystems. Although post-fire decomposition could also increase due to higher soil temperatures, reductions in microbial biomass and activity may attenuate this response. Other feedbacks such as soil drying, increased nutrient mineralization, and plant species shifts are either weak or uncertain. We conclude that strong positive feedbacks to decomposition will likely depend on permafrost thaw, and that climate feedbacks will probably be weak or negative in boreal ecosystems without permafrost. However, warming manipulations should be conducted in a broader range of boreal systems to validate these predictions. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The British Mycological Society. Article in Journal/Newspaper permafrost University of California: eScholarship |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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ftcdlib |
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topic |
Bacteria Boreal forest Climate warming Community composition Decomposition Feedbacks Fire Nitrogen Permafrost Soil carbon Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Microbiology |
spellingShingle |
Bacteria Boreal forest Climate warming Community composition Decomposition Feedbacks Fire Nitrogen Permafrost Soil carbon Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Microbiology Allison, SD Treseder, KK Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
topic_facet |
Bacteria Boreal forest Climate warming Community composition Decomposition Feedbacks Fire Nitrogen Permafrost Soil carbon Environmental Sciences Biological Sciences Microbiology |
description |
Boreal ecosystems store 10-20% of global soil carbon and may warm by 4-7°C over the next century. Higher temperatures could increase the activity of boreal decomposers and indirectly affect decomposition through other ecosystem feedbacks. For example, permafrost melting will likely alleviate constraints on microbial decomposition and lead to greater soil CO2 emissions. However, wet boreal ecosystems underlain by permafrost are often CH4 sources, and permafrost thaw could ultimately result in drier soils that consume CH4, thereby offsetting some of the greenhouse warming potential of soil CO2 emissions. Climate change is also likely to increase winter precipitation and snow depth in boreal regions, which may stimulate decomposition by moderating soil temperatures under the snowpack. As temperatures and evapotranspiration increase in the boreal zone, fires may become more frequent, leading to additional permafrost loss from burned ecosystems. Although post-fire decomposition could also increase due to higher soil temperatures, reductions in microbial biomass and activity may attenuate this response. Other feedbacks such as soil drying, increased nutrient mineralization, and plant species shifts are either weak or uncertain. We conclude that strong positive feedbacks to decomposition will likely depend on permafrost thaw, and that climate feedbacks will probably be weak or negative in boreal ecosystems without permafrost. However, warming manipulations should be conducted in a broader range of boreal systems to validate these predictions. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The British Mycological Society. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Allison, SD Treseder, KK |
author_facet |
Allison, SD Treseder, KK |
author_sort |
Allison, SD |
title |
Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
title_short |
Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
title_full |
Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
title_fullStr |
Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
title_sort |
climate change feedbacks to microbial decomposition in boreal soils |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x77b8fj |
op_coverage |
362 - 374 |
genre |
permafrost |
genre_facet |
permafrost |
op_source |
Fungal Ecology, vol 4, iss 6 |
op_relation |
qt2x77b8fj https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2x77b8fj |
op_rights |
CC-BY |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
_version_ |
1766163716748869632 |