No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions
Determining the temperature sensitivity of terrestrial carbon (C) stores is an urgent priority for predicting future climate feedbacks. A key aspect to solve this long‐standing research gap is to determine whether warmer temperatures will increase autotrophic activities leading to greater C storage...
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ftuglasgow:oai:eprints.gla.ac.uk:232833 2023-05-15T18:28:33+02:00 No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions Briones, Maria J.I. Garnett, Mark H. Ineson, Phil 2021-05 text http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/2/232833.pdf en eng Wiley http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/2/232833.pdf Briones, M. J.I., Garnett, M. H. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/9257.html> and Ineson, P. (2021) No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions. Global Change Biology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Global_Change_Biology.html>, 27(9), pp. 1836-1847. (doi:10.1111/gcb.15540 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15540>) (PMID:33528070) Articles PeerReviewed 2021 ftuglasgow https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15540 2022-03-03T23:11:27Z Determining the temperature sensitivity of terrestrial carbon (C) stores is an urgent priority for predicting future climate feedbacks. A key aspect to solve this long‐standing research gap is to determine whether warmer temperatures will increase autotrophic activities leading to greater C storage or promote heterotrophic activities that will drive these systems to become C sources. We experimentally addressed this critical question by subjecting intact plant‐soil systems in a UK upland ecosystem to simulated climate warming under natural field conditions. We report the results of a 13‐year field‐based climate manipulation experiment combining in situ respiration measurements with radiocarbon (14C) analyses of respired CO2, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), soil and the tissue contents of the dominant soil fauna (enchytraeids). We found that warming during the growing season produced the largely expected increases in ecosystem respiration (63%) and leaching of DOC (19%) with no evidence for thermal acclimation or substrate exhaustion over the whole 13‐year experimental period. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence to support an increased release of old soil C after more than a decade of simulated climatic change, and indeed, 14C analyses indicated that warming caused a significant shift towards mineralisation of more recent plant‐derived C inputs. Further support came from the radiocarbon analyses of the enchytraeid tissues, which showed a greater assimilation of the more recent (plant‐derived) C sources following warming. Therefore, in contrast to subarctic ecosystems, our results suggest that changes in C storage in this UK upland soil are strongly coupled to plant activities and that increasing temperatures will drive the turnover of organic material fixed only within recent years, without resulting in the loss of existing old carbon stores. Article in Journal/Newspaper Subarctic University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications Global Change Biology 27 9 1836 1847 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Glasgow: Enlighten - Publications |
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ftuglasgow |
language |
English |
description |
Determining the temperature sensitivity of terrestrial carbon (C) stores is an urgent priority for predicting future climate feedbacks. A key aspect to solve this long‐standing research gap is to determine whether warmer temperatures will increase autotrophic activities leading to greater C storage or promote heterotrophic activities that will drive these systems to become C sources. We experimentally addressed this critical question by subjecting intact plant‐soil systems in a UK upland ecosystem to simulated climate warming under natural field conditions. We report the results of a 13‐year field‐based climate manipulation experiment combining in situ respiration measurements with radiocarbon (14C) analyses of respired CO2, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), soil and the tissue contents of the dominant soil fauna (enchytraeids). We found that warming during the growing season produced the largely expected increases in ecosystem respiration (63%) and leaching of DOC (19%) with no evidence for thermal acclimation or substrate exhaustion over the whole 13‐year experimental period. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence to support an increased release of old soil C after more than a decade of simulated climatic change, and indeed, 14C analyses indicated that warming caused a significant shift towards mineralisation of more recent plant‐derived C inputs. Further support came from the radiocarbon analyses of the enchytraeid tissues, which showed a greater assimilation of the more recent (plant‐derived) C sources following warming. Therefore, in contrast to subarctic ecosystems, our results suggest that changes in C storage in this UK upland soil are strongly coupled to plant activities and that increasing temperatures will drive the turnover of organic material fixed only within recent years, without resulting in the loss of existing old carbon stores. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Briones, Maria J.I. Garnett, Mark H. Ineson, Phil |
spellingShingle |
Briones, Maria J.I. Garnett, Mark H. Ineson, Phil No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
author_facet |
Briones, Maria J.I. Garnett, Mark H. Ineson, Phil |
author_sort |
Briones, Maria J.I. |
title |
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
title_short |
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
title_full |
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
title_fullStr |
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
title_full_unstemmed |
No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions |
title_sort |
no evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased co2 emissions |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/2/232833.pdf |
genre |
Subarctic |
genre_facet |
Subarctic |
op_relation |
http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/232833/2/232833.pdf Briones, M. J.I., Garnett, M. H. <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/author/9257.html> and Ineson, P. (2021) No evidence for increased loss of old carbon in a temperate organic soil after 13 years of simulated climatic warming despite increased CO2 emissions. Global Change Biology <http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/view/journal_volume/Global_Change_Biology.html>, 27(9), pp. 1836-1847. (doi:10.1111/gcb.15540 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15540>) (PMID:33528070) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15540 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
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27 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1836 |
op_container_end_page |
1847 |
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1766211073810104320 |