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Nature 437, 205-206 (8 September 2005) | doi:10.1038/437205a; Published online 7 September 2005

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Environmental science: Carbon unlocked from soils

E. Detlef Schulze1 & Annette Freibauer1

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Changes in climate and land use are implicated as the main factors in the large-scale loss of carbon from soils in England and Wales over the past 25 years. The same picture is likely to apply much more broadly.

Soils are major players in the carbon cycle — globally, they store the equivalent of about 300 times the amount of carbon now released annually through the burning of fossil fuels. It is generally assumed that most of the carbon locked up in soils is inert, and stays there.

  1. E Detlef Schulze and Annette Freibauer are at the Max-Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry PO Box 1001 64, 07701 Jena, Germany.
    Email: Detlef.Schulze@bgc-jena.mpg.de

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Environmental science Carbon unlocked from soils

Nature News and Views (08 Sep 2005)