Year: 2022
Type: review
Abstract: Soil organic carbon (SOC) changes under future climate warming are difficult to quantify in situ. Here we apply an innovative approach combining space-for-time substitution with meta-analysis to SOC measurements in 113,013 soil profiles across the globe to estimate the effect of future climate warming on steady-state SOC stocks. We find that SOC stock will reduce by 6.0 ± 1.6% (mean±95% confidence interval), 4.8 ± 2.3% and 1.3 ± 4.0% at 0-0.3, 0.3-1 and 1-2 m soil depths, respectively, under 1 °C air warming, with additional 4.2%, 2.2% and 1.4% losses per every additional 1 °C warming, respectively. The largest proportional SOC losses occur in boreal forests. Existing SOC level is the predominant determinant of the spatial variability of SOC changes with higher percentage losses in SOC-rich soils. Our work demonstrates that warming induces more proportional SOC losses in topsoil than in subsoil, particularly from high-latitudinal SOC-rich systems.
Source: Nature Communications
Institutions: Zhejiang University, Sandia National Laboratories California, Sandia National Laboratories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Peking University, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Climate action, Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,890
OpenAlex ID: W4296776453