Rising Temperatures Could Liberate Carbon From Soil
Author: Shalini Saxena | Published: December 12, 2016
Scientists have been investigating the potential effects of climate change for years. Though many of the predicted changes are now occurring, such as loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise, and more extreme heat waves, not all effects are well understood.
Most of us are aware that the global temperatures are creeping upward as a result of heat trapped in the atmosphere due to greenhouse gas emissions. But we may not know the full extent of changes this rise in temperature could have on our world. In a recent investigation published in the scientific journal Nature, scientists have explored the influence of global warming on soil carbon stocks located in the earth’s soil, which is still unclear to the scientific community.
Soil carbon stocks have a role to play in climate change because of the many biological processes of organisms living in the soil. Plants, microbes, and animals that live in the soil require exchange of carbon with the atmosphere, resulting in either sequestration of carbon through processes such as photosynthesis or liberation of carbon through processes such as decay. Scientists believe that the rate of these processes could be accelerated by global warming.
In the most recent investigation, scientists compiled a global database of soil carbon stock responses to global warming using worldwide climate change experiments. The soil samples used in the analysis were collected from 49 climate change experiments spanning six biomes in North America, Europe, and Asia. The team focused on soil samples collected within the top 10 cm of soil, which contains the greatest proportion of biologically active soil carbon.