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Accelerated microbial turnover but constant growth efficiency with warming in soil

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 903–906 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Rising temperatures are expected to reduce global soil carbon (C) stocks, driving a positive feedback to climate change1,2,3. However, the mechanisms underlying this prediction are not well understood, including how temperature affects microbial enzyme kinetics, growth efficiency (MGE), and turnover4,5. Here, in a laboratory study, we show that microbial turnover accelerates with warming and, along with enzyme kinetics, determines the response of microbial respiration to temperature change. In contrast, MGE, which is generally thought to decline with warming6,7,8, showed no temperature sensitivity. A microbial-enzyme model suggests that such temperature sensitive microbial turnover would promote soil C accumulation with warming, in contrast to reduced soil C predicted by traditional biogeochemical models. Furthermore, the effect of increased microbial turnover differs from the effects of reduced MGE, causing larger increases in soil C stocks. Our results demonstrate that the response of soil C to warming is affected by changes in microbial turnover. This control should be included in the next generation of models to improve prediction of soil C feedbacks to warming.

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Figure 1: Microbial growth efficiency (MGE) after a 7-day incubation at different temperatures for a mineral and an organic soil.
Figure 2: Turnover rates (τ, d−1) as a function of temperature for a mineral and an organic soil.
Figure 3: Modelled effect of temperature and incubation duration on apparent microbial growth efficiency (MGE).
Figure 4: The relative change in soil organic C (SOC) and microbial biomass C (MBC) from 5 to 20 °C under three scenarios using the AWB model.

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Acknowledgements

E. Miller contributed to experimental work and N. Aspelin assisted with soil sample collection. This research is supported by an NSF grant (DEB-1146449) to P.D. and NSF MRI (DBI-0723250 and 1126840) to G.W.K. and T. Whitham.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA

    Shannon B. Hagerty, Kees Jan van Groenigen, Bruce A. Hungate, Egbert Schwartz, George W. Koch & Paul Dijkstra

  2. Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA

    Kees Jan van Groenigen, Bruce A. Hungate, George W. Koch & Paul Dijkstra

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA

    Steven D. Allison

  4. USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station, Grand Rapids, Minnesota 55744, USA

    Randall K. Kolka

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Contributions

S.B.H., P.D., E.S., B.A.H. and G.W.K. conceived the project, S.B.H. conducted the soil incubation experiment and led the manuscript preparation. R.K.K. guided site selection and provided the soils in the study. S.B.H., K.J.v.G. and P.D. contributed to data analysis and interpretation. S.D.A. carried out the microbial-enzyme modelling. All authors contributed to writing the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Paul Dijkstra.

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Hagerty, S., van Groenigen, K., Allison, S. et al. Accelerated microbial turnover but constant growth efficiency with warming in soil. Nature Clim Change 4, 903–906 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2361

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