Determinants of carbon release from the active layer and permafrost deposits on the Tibetan Plateau

The sign and magnitude of permafrost carbon (C)-climate feedback are highly uncertain due to the limited understanding of the decomposability of thawing permafrost and relevant mechanistic controls over C release. Here, by combining aerobic incubation with biomarker analysis and a three-pool model,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: Chen, Leiyi, Liang, Junyi, Qin, Shuqi, Liu, Li, Fang, Kai, Xu, Yunping, Ding, Jinzhi, Li, Fei, Luo, Yiqi, Yang, Yuanhe
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP 2016
Subjects:
Multidisciplinary Sciences
SOIL ORGANIC-MATTER
TRACE GAS-PRODUCTION
TEMPERATURE SENSITIVITY
CLIMATE-CHANGE
CO2 PRODUCTION
VULNERABILITY
TURNOVER
TUNDRA
THAW
MINERALIZATION
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
permafrost
Tundra
Online Access:http://ir.ibcas.ac.cn/handle/2S10CLM1/25140
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13046
Description
Summary:The sign and magnitude of permafrost carbon (C)-climate feedback are highly uncertain due to the limited understanding of the decomposability of thawing permafrost and relevant mechanistic controls over C release. Here, by combining aerobic incubation with biomarker analysis and a three-pool model, we reveal that C quality (represented by a higher amount of fast cycling C but a lower amount of recalcitrant C compounds) and normalized CO2-C release in permafrost deposits were similar or even higher than those in the active layer, demonstrating a high vulnerability of C in Tibetan upland permafrost. We also illustrate that C quality exerts the most control over CO2-C release from the active layer, whereas soil microbial abundance is more directly associated with CO2-C release after permafrost thaw. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating microbial properties into Earth System Models when predicting permafrost C dynamics under a changing environment.

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