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Deep Forest Soils Lose Carbon as Temperatures Climb2 min read

by Julie Chao on May 21, 2021

Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division
photo of three scientists taking soil samples in a forest

Berkeley Lab scientists take soil samples at Blodgett Forest (Credit: Roy Kaltschmidt/Berkeley Lab)

A new study led by Berkeley Lab has provided the first physical evidence that warmer temperatures lead to a significant drop in the stored carbon stock in deep forest soils. An experiment in California’s Sierra Nevada forest found that the carbon content in subsoils dropped 33% over five years.

The research team, led by Margaret Torn, artificially heated plots of soil down to 1 meter deep by 4 degrees Celsius, which is the amount of heating projected by century’s end in a business-as-usual climate scenario. (The heating followed natural diurnal and seasonal cycles.) “We heated the whole soil profile, whereas most experiments just heat the surface,” Torn said. “That deeper soil has a very large stock of carbon and because it’s old people have assumed that it’s also stable. But we’re saying, nope, actually, you can lose this deep, older carbon.”

This study was published in Science Advances, with Jennifer Soong as the lead author.

Soils contain twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does, and deeper subsoils (more than 20 centimeters) are believed to account for roughly half of the soil carbon. The same research team found in 2017 that the warmed soil led to an increase of CO2 released into the atmosphere by 34 to 37%.

The new study confirms that this release has continued unabated five years later and provides physical evidence of the net transfer of carbon from the soil, where it was sequestered as organic carbon, to the atmosphere, released as a greenhouse gas. This cycle, if confirmed over longer timescales, could constitute a positive feedback to climate change.

“Forests are currently a net sink of carbon and still have the potential to sequester large amounts of atmospheric CO2 in coming decades,” Torn said. “However, a better understanding of how deep soils will respond to warming is needed to accurately predict and plan for long-term changes.”

News & Events

EESA Research Scientist Selected for NAE 2022 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium2 min read

May 23, 2022

Mengsu Hu, an EESA research scientist, was selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium in September. For more than 25 years, the NAE has identified the best and brightest early-career engineers from large and small companies, research universities, and government laboratories to discuss their leading-edge research and…

Microbial Response to a Changing and Fire-Prone Arctic Ecosystem2 min read

April 27, 2022

Burning more than 1,000 square kilometers of tundra on Alaska’s North Slope, the 2007 Anaktuvuk river wildfire is one of the largest fires to occur within Arctic ecosystems. Berkeley Lab scientist Nick Bouskill led a study that used data from this disturbance event to predict ecosystem recovery as fires advance in a changing climate. (Credit:…

Study Evaluates Phosphorus Availability Underground using Plant Leaves as Biosensors3 min read

April 25, 2022

When envisioning renewable energy, sources that often come to mind are the sun, wind, batteries, and water. However, biofuel, a type of renewable energy that converts organic material from plants into liquid fuel, is an important part of a global effort to achieve net-zero emissions. Switchgrass, a deep-rooted native North American grass that grows in…

EESA Multimedia Producer and Digital Strategist Niba Audrey Nirmal Awarded Ocean Science Journalism Fellowship1 min read

Niba Audrey Nirmal, EESA Multimedia Producer and Digital Strategist, has been awarded the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) Ocean Science Journalism (OSJ) Fellowship.   In May, Nirmal will join nine other selected fellows on a five-day, experiential-learning based retreat at the WHOI located in Falmouth, Massachusetts to learn about ocean-science concepts ranging from marine biology to…

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