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IU biologists collaborate to refine climate change modeling tools
http://news.indiana.edu/releases/iu/2014/11/corpse-climate-model.shtml[font face=Serif][font size=5]IU biologists collaborate to refine climate change modeling tools[/font]
[font size=4]New model includes critical plant-soil interaction processes in climate assessments[/font]
Nov. 10, 2014 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[font size=3]BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A new climate change modeling tool developed by scientists at Indiana University, Princeton University and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration finds that carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere owing to greater plant growth from rising CO[font size=1]2[/font] levels will be partially offset by changes in the activity of soil microbes that derive their energy from plant root growth.
Soils hold more carbon than all of the earth’s plant biomass and atmosphere combined. The new work published by Benjamin N. Sulman, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of co-author and IU Department of Biology associate professor Richard P. Phillips, identifies the highly active community of chemicals and organisms in the rhizosphere, or the soil that surrounds roots, as the driver behind increased emissions.
“The deposition of compounds such as sugars and organic acids from living roots can increase the activity of bacteria and fungi, and it’s this increase in activity that accelerates the decomposition of carbon in the soil, leading to higher CO[font size=1]2[/font] emissions,” Sulman said. “On the other hand, this increased activity can transform carbon compounds into forms more easily locked onto soil particles, allowing them to stay in the soil for longer periods of time.”
Global simulations conducted by the team found that microbial responses to enhanced root activity under rising CO[font size=1]2[/font], while depending on plant species, climate and soil mineralogy, led to a loss of global soil carbon stocks that counteracted the additional carbon storage resulting from increased plant growth in many regions of the world. The strongest of these effects were found in temperate North America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, while gains in soil carbon capture were greatest in boreal North America, Siberia and tropical South America.
…[/font][/font]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2436[font size=4]New model includes critical plant-soil interaction processes in climate assessments[/font]
Nov. 10, 2014 | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[font size=3]BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A new climate change modeling tool developed by scientists at Indiana University, Princeton University and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration finds that carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere owing to greater plant growth from rising CO[font size=1]2[/font] levels will be partially offset by changes in the activity of soil microbes that derive their energy from plant root growth.
Soils hold more carbon than all of the earth’s plant biomass and atmosphere combined. The new work published by Benjamin N. Sulman, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of co-author and IU Department of Biology associate professor Richard P. Phillips, identifies the highly active community of chemicals and organisms in the rhizosphere, or the soil that surrounds roots, as the driver behind increased emissions.
“The deposition of compounds such as sugars and organic acids from living roots can increase the activity of bacteria and fungi, and it’s this increase in activity that accelerates the decomposition of carbon in the soil, leading to higher CO[font size=1]2[/font] emissions,” Sulman said. “On the other hand, this increased activity can transform carbon compounds into forms more easily locked onto soil particles, allowing them to stay in the soil for longer periods of time.”
Global simulations conducted by the team found that microbial responses to enhanced root activity under rising CO[font size=1]2[/font], while depending on plant species, climate and soil mineralogy, led to a loss of global soil carbon stocks that counteracted the additional carbon storage resulting from increased plant growth in many regions of the world. The strongest of these effects were found in temperate North America, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa, while gains in soil carbon capture were greatest in boreal North America, Siberia and tropical South America.
…[/font][/font]