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Old soil carbon losses increase with ecosystem respiration in experimentally thawed tundra

Nature Climate Change volume 6, pages 214–218 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Old soil carbon (C) respired to the atmosphere as a result of permafrost thaw has the potential to become a large positive feedback to climate change. As permafrost thaws, quantifying old soil contributions to ecosystem respiration (Reco) and understanding how these contributions change with warming is necessary to estimate the size of this positive feedback. We used naturally occurring C isotopes (δ13C and Δ14C) to partition Reco into plant, young soil and old soil sources in a subarctic air and soil warming experiment over three years. We found that old soil contributions to Reco increased with soil temperature and Reco flux. However, the increase in the soil warming treatment was smaller than expected because experimentally warming the soils increased plant contributions to Reco by 30%. On the basis of these data, an increase in mean annual temperature from −5 to 0 °C will increase old soil C losses from moist acidic tundra by 35–55 g C m−2 during the growing season. The largest losses will probably occur where the plant response to warming is minimal.

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Figure 1: RecoΔ14C decreased as ecosystem respiration fluxes increased.
Figure 2: Relationships with soil temperature.
Figure 3: Old soil contribution to Reco increased with increasing respiration flux.
Figure 4: Estimated growing season old C losses from the experimental treatments in 2010 and 2011.

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Acknowledgements

This work was made possible by assistance from J. Curtis, K. Venz-Curtis, A. B. Lopez, D. DeRaps, D. Rogan, E. Pegoraro and D. Hicks. This work was funded by NSF DDIG (C.E.H.P.), NSF CAREER (E.A.G.S.), Bonanza Creek LTER (E.A.G.S.), DOE NICCR and NSF OPP (S.M.N. and E.A.G.S.).

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Author notes

  1. Caitlin E. Hicks Pries

    Present address: Present address: Climate Sciences Department, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA,

  2. Edward A. G. Schuur

    Present address: Present address: Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011, USA,

  3. Susan M. Natali

    Present address: Present address: Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540, USA,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Florida, PO Box 118525, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA

    Caitlin E. Hicks Pries, Edward A. G. Schuur, Susan M. Natali & K. Grace Crummer

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  1. Caitlin E. Hicks Pries
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  2. Edward A. G. Schuur
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  3. Susan M. Natali
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Contributions

E.A.G.S. conceived and designed the warming experiment; S.M.N. designed and set up the warming experiment; C.E.H.P. designed the partitioning measurements, performed the field and lab work, analysed the data, and wrote the paper; K.G.C. performed lab analyses.

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Correspondence to Caitlin E. Hicks Pries.

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Hicks Pries, C., Schuur, E., Natali, S. et al. Old soil carbon losses increase with ecosystem respiration in experimentally thawed tundra. Nature Clim Change 6, 214–218 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2830

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