Carbon cycle

The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle focused on carbon and how it is sequestered in and moves between different reservoirs in the Earth system.

Latest Research and Reviews

Reviews
02 February 2023 | Open Access

Monitoring and modelling marine zooplankton in a changing climate

Zooplankton are a critical link to higher trophic levels and play an important role in global biogeochemical cycles. This Review examines key responses of zooplankton to ocean warming, highlights key knowledge and geographic gaps that need to be addressed, and discusses how better use of observations and long-term zooplankton monitoring programmes can help fill these gaps.
- Lavenia Ratnarajah
- , Rana Abu-Alhaija
- & Lidia Yebra
Nature Communications 14, 564
Research
02 February 2023 | Open Access

Salp blooms drive strong increases in passive carbon export in the Southern Ocean

Gelatinous bloom-forming zooplankton—salps—alter microbial communities and quintuple the flux of sinking particles from the surface to the deep, strongly enhancing the ability of the ocean to sequester CO₂.
- Moira Décima
- , Michael R. Stukel
- & Matt Pinkerton
Nature Communications 14, 425
Research
31 January 2023 | Open Access

Dynamics of aggregate-associated organic carbon after long-term cropland conversion in a karst region, southwest China
- Li Wen
- , Dejun Li
- & Xiaoping Xiao
Scientific Reports 13, 1773
Research
31 January 2023 | Open Access

A widely-used eddy covariance gap-filling method creates systematic bias in carbon balance estimates
- Henriikka Vekuri
- , Juha-Pekka Tuovinen
- & Annalea Lohila
Scientific Reports 13, 1720
Research | 26 January 2023

Spatiotemporal pattern of greenhouse gas emissions in China’s wastewater sector and pathways towards carbon neutrality

Based on case-specific operating parameters of each municipal wastewater treatment plant and the associated sewers and sludge disposal utilities, this study presents a detailed analysis of the current carbon footprint of the wastewater sector in China and scenarios for reducing future emissions.
- Wen-Jie Du
- , Jia-Yuan Lu
- & Wen-Wei Li
Nature Water, 1-10
Reviews | 25 January 2023

Formation of necromass-derived soil organic carbon determined by microbial death pathways

Microbial death pathways affect the quantity and composition of microbial necromass and its associated soil organic carbon.
- Tessa Camenzind
- , Kyle Mason-Jones
- & Johannes Lehmann
Nature Geoscience, 1-8

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News and Comment

Comments & Opinion
23 January 2023 | Open Access

Unified prediction of organic matter preservation and degradation

A mechanistic and predictive hierarchical model explains observed organic carbon burial efficiencies and degradation kinetics, and reveals that upper and lower limits of organic matter activation energies are key to predicting organic matter preservation and degradation rates.
- Jack J. Middelburg
Communications Earth & Environment 4, 17
News & Views | 05 January 2023

Plant traits and marsh fate

Some coastal marshes may have a hard time building soil elevation under future climate conditions, although this may reduce methane emissions, according to four years of field manipulation of warming and elevated CO₂ in a coastal wetland.
- Thomas L. O’Halloran
- & Georgia S. Seyfried
Nature Geoscience 16, 4-5
News & Views | 22 December 2022

Carbon streams into the deep Arctic Ocean

Widespread injection of deep water from the Barents Sea into the Nansen Basin makes a substantial contribution to carbon sequestration in the Arctic Ocean, and feeds the deep sea community.
- Manfredi Manizza
Nature Geoscience 16, 6-7
News & Views | 05 December 2022

Carbon turnover gets wet

The biological processes that control the release of carbon stored in land are dependent on water availability. A global analysis of temperature sensitivity reveals how hydrometeorological processes modulate the response of land carbon turnover to temperature.
- Yuanyuan Huang
- & Yingping Wang
Nature Geoscience 15, 960-961
News & Views | 05 December 2022

Phased variation of soil respiration in tropical forests in response to nitrogen deposition

Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition is known to affect forest soil respiration, but it remains unclear how soil respiration responds to nitrogen deposition over time. Monitoring of CO₂ emissions over 9–13 years of nitrogen-addition treatments in three tropical forests in southern China reveals a three-phase pattern of soil respiration.

Nature Geoscience 15, 965-966
Comments & Opinion | 18 November 2022

Designing safer chemicals

Julie Zimmerman takes a complete systems-thinking approach towards lowering consumption of non-renewable resources and the technological approaches to get there. As professor of chemical and environmental engineering, environment, and epidemiology at Yale University, she is taking green chemistry to new levels.
- Lisa Palmer
Nature Sustainability 6, 3-4

All News & Comment

Carbon cycle

Latest Research and Reviews

Monitoring and modelling marine zooplankton in a changing climate

Salp blooms drive strong increases in passive carbon export in the Southern Ocean

Dynamics of aggregate-associated organic carbon after long-term cropland conversion in a karst region, southwest China

A widely-used eddy covariance gap-filling method creates systematic bias in carbon balance estimates

Spatiotemporal pattern of greenhouse gas emissions in China’s wastewater sector and pathways towards carbon neutrality

Formation of necromass-derived soil organic carbon determined by microbial death pathways

News and Comment

Unified prediction of organic matter preservation and degradation

Plant traits and marsh fate

Carbon streams into the deep Arctic Ocean

Carbon turnover gets wet

Phased variation of soil respiration in tropical forests in response to nitrogen deposition

Designing safer chemicals

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