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Carbon cycle

A warm response by soils

Nature volume 464, pages 499–500 (2010)Cite this article

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The flux of carbon from soils to the atmosphere has apparently increased with climate warming. But does this reflect a net loss of carbon to the atmosphere that could exacerbate climate change?

The world's soils contain twice as much carbon as the atmosphere1. As a result, small increases in organic carbon loss from soils could greatly enhance carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere2, potentially creating a positive feedback on climate3. On page 579 of this issue4, Bond-Lamberty and Thomson add to our understanding of how soils might respond to climate change.

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Figure 1: Possible mechanisms driving increased soil respiration (RS) in a warming climate.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pete Smith is at the Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, UK. pete.smith@abdn.ac.uk ,

    Pete Smith

  2. Changming Fang is at the Coastal Ecosystems Research Station of Yangtze River Estuary, Institute of Biodiversity Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 20043, China. cmfang@fudan.edu.cn ,

    Changming Fang

Authors
  1. Pete Smith
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  2. Changming Fang
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Smith, P., Fang, C. A warm response by soils. Nature 464, 499–500 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464499a

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