Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra
Soils harbor a large reservoir of carbon (C) that is several times greater than the amount present in the atmosphere. How climate change factors will affect microbial turnover of organic C (OC), resulting in release of C to the atmosphere, remains uncertain. Closing these knowledge gaps is necessary...
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Georgia Institute of Technology
2020
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62186 |
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ftgeorgiatech:oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/62186 2023-05-15T17:58:04+02:00 Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra Johnston, Eric Robert Konstantinidis, Kostas T. Civil and Environmental Engineering Pavlostathis, Spyros G. Brown, Joe Kostka, Joel Tiedje, James M. 2020-01-14T14:40:46Z application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62186 en_US eng Georgia Institute of Technology http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62186 Environmental engineering Global change Metagenomics Soil Soil microbiology Microbial ecology Climate change Soil carbon Carbon cycle Global warming Metatranscriptomics Genomics RNA DNA Tropical rainforest Tundra Permafrost Methane Carbon dioxide Text Dissertation 2020 ftgeorgiatech 2023-04-10T17:55:23Z Soils harbor a large reservoir of carbon (C) that is several times greater than the amount present in the atmosphere. How climate change factors will affect microbial turnover of organic C (OC), resulting in release of C to the atmosphere, remains uncertain. Closing these knowledge gaps is necessary for improving predictions of future climate change and managing natural as well as agricultural ecosystems. To advance these topics, we have studied the responses of soil microbial communities to key climate change factors in tundra, temperate, and tropical ecosystems. Moderate warming of tundra soils (1-2°C above ambient) increased microbial potential for CO2 and methane production after just five years. Several of the most dominant and responsive taxa were also found to be widespread throughout the surrounding ecosystem. A similar study of Eurasian steppe soils revealed how warming stimulates microbial mechanisms involved in C release, but how the combination of increased temperatures and precipitation counteracts C loss through increased plant productivity. A study of phosphorus (P)-limited tropical soils revealed how P availability regulates microbial OC turnover, which has implications for the management of tropical ecosystems because enhanced plant growth is expected to increase OC and decrease P bioavailability. Collectively, these studies contribute to an improved understanding of the diversity and functionality of terrestrial soil microbiota and how future climate change might affect soil C release. Ph.D. Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis permafrost Tundra Georgia Institute of Technology: SMARTech - Scholarly Materials and Research at Georgia Tech |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Georgia Institute of Technology: SMARTech - Scholarly Materials and Research at Georgia Tech |
op_collection_id |
ftgeorgiatech |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental engineering Global change Metagenomics Soil Soil microbiology Microbial ecology Climate change Soil carbon Carbon cycle Global warming Metatranscriptomics Genomics RNA DNA Tropical rainforest Tundra Permafrost Methane Carbon dioxide |
spellingShingle |
Environmental engineering Global change Metagenomics Soil Soil microbiology Microbial ecology Climate change Soil carbon Carbon cycle Global warming Metatranscriptomics Genomics RNA DNA Tropical rainforest Tundra Permafrost Methane Carbon dioxide Johnston, Eric Robert Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
topic_facet |
Environmental engineering Global change Metagenomics Soil Soil microbiology Microbial ecology Climate change Soil carbon Carbon cycle Global warming Metatranscriptomics Genomics RNA DNA Tropical rainforest Tundra Permafrost Methane Carbon dioxide |
description |
Soils harbor a large reservoir of carbon (C) that is several times greater than the amount present in the atmosphere. How climate change factors will affect microbial turnover of organic C (OC), resulting in release of C to the atmosphere, remains uncertain. Closing these knowledge gaps is necessary for improving predictions of future climate change and managing natural as well as agricultural ecosystems. To advance these topics, we have studied the responses of soil microbial communities to key climate change factors in tundra, temperate, and tropical ecosystems. Moderate warming of tundra soils (1-2°C above ambient) increased microbial potential for CO2 and methane production after just five years. Several of the most dominant and responsive taxa were also found to be widespread throughout the surrounding ecosystem. A similar study of Eurasian steppe soils revealed how warming stimulates microbial mechanisms involved in C release, but how the combination of increased temperatures and precipitation counteracts C loss through increased plant productivity. A study of phosphorus (P)-limited tropical soils revealed how P availability regulates microbial OC turnover, which has implications for the management of tropical ecosystems because enhanced plant growth is expected to increase OC and decrease P bioavailability. Collectively, these studies contribute to an improved understanding of the diversity and functionality of terrestrial soil microbiota and how future climate change might affect soil C release. Ph.D. |
author2 |
Konstantinidis, Kostas T. Civil and Environmental Engineering Pavlostathis, Spyros G. Brown, Joe Kostka, Joel Tiedje, James M. |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Johnston, Eric Robert |
author_facet |
Johnston, Eric Robert |
author_sort |
Johnston, Eric Robert |
title |
Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
title_short |
Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
title_full |
Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
title_fullStr |
Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: From tropical forests to the Alaskan tundra |
title_sort |
elucidating how global climate change factors affect soil microbial carbon cycling processes: from tropical forests to the alaskan tundra |
publisher |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62186 |
genre |
permafrost Tundra |
genre_facet |
permafrost Tundra |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1853/62186 |
_version_ |
1766166598564970496 |