Priorities, opportunities, and challenges for integrating microorganisms into Earth system models for climate change prediction
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Climate change jeopardizes human health, global biodiversity, and sustainability of the biosphere. To make reliable predictions about climate change, scientists use Earth system models (ESMs) that integrate physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring on land, the oceans, and the atmosphere. Although critical for catalyzing coupled biogeochemical processes, microorganisms have traditionally been left out of ESMs. Here, we generate a "top 10" list of priorities, opportunities, and challenges for the explicit integration of microorganisms into ESMs. We discuss the need for coarse-graining microbial information into functionally relevant categories, as well as the capacity for microorganisms to rapidly evolve in response to climate-change drivers. Microbiologists are uniquely positioned to collect novel and valuable information necessary for next-generation ESMs, but this requires data harmonization and transdisciplinary collaboration to effectively guide adaptation strategies and mitigation policy.
Source: mBio
Authors: J. T. Lennon, R. Z. Abramoff, S. D. Allison, R. M. Burckhardt, K. M. DeAngelis, J. P. Dunne, S. D. Frey, P. Friedlingstein, C. V. Hawkes, B. A. Hungate, S. Khurana, S. N. Kivlin, N. M. Levine, S. Manzoni, A. C. Martiny, J. B. H. Martiny, N. K. Nguyen, M. Rawat, D. Talmy, K. Todd-Brown, M. Vogt, W. R. Wieder, E. J. Zakem
Institutions: Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Ronin Institute, University of California, Irvine, American Society for Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, University of Exeter, North Carolina State University, Northern Arizona University, Stockholm University, Bolin Centre for Climate Research, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Southern California, U.S. National Science Foundation, University of Florida, ETH Zurich, Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder, Carnegie Institution for Science
Language: English
Subfield: Soil Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,900
OpenAlex ID: W4393161741