Carbon Amounts In Soil Unchanged Despite Climate Warming

Greenhouses at the Arctic Long Term Ecological Research site at Toolik Lake, Alaska, have been used by Gus Shaver and other Ecosystems Center scientists for more than two decades to observe the effects of climate warming on the Arctic tundra.

Using the data from these experiments,  Seeta Sistla, a doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Barbara and a graduate of the Brown-MBL Partnership and Graduate Program in Biological and Environmental Sciences, her adviser, Josh Schimel, Shaver and colleagues reports that decades of slow and steady warming have not changed the amounts of carbon in the soil, despite changes in vegetation and even the soil food web. Whether or not this phenomenon—no net loss of soil carbon despite long-term warming—is a transient phase that will eventually give way to increased decomposition activity and more carbon release, remains to be seen.

The research was published in the May 15 Advance Online Publication of the journal Nature. Other researchers participating in this study include John C. Moore and Rodney T. Simpson from Colorado State University, Fort Collins and Laura Gough from the University of Texas at Arlington.

Sistla, SA, JC Moore, RT Simpson, L Gough, GR Shaver and JP Schimel. 2013. Long-term warming restructures Arctic tundra without changing net soil carbon storage. Nature. doi:10.1038/nature12129

Recent Publications

Macedo, M., M.T. Coe, R. DeFries, M. Uriarte, P.M. Brando, C. Neill and W.S. Walker. 2013. Land-use-driven stream warming in southeastern Amazonia. Phil Trans R Soc B 368: 20120153 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0153

Riskin, S.H., S. Porder, C. Neill, A. Figueira, C. Tubbesing and N. Mahowald. 2013. The fate of phosphorus fertilizer in Amazon soya bean fields. Phil Trans R Soc B 368:20120154 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0154

Neill, C., M.T. Coe, S.H. Riskin, A. V. Krusche, H. Elsenbeer, M. N. Machedo, R. McHorney, P. Lefebvre, E.A. Davidson, R. Scheffer, A. M. Figuera, S. Porder and L.A. Deegan. 2013. Watershed responses to Amazon soya bean cropland expansion and intensification. Phil Trans R Soc B 368:20120425. http://dx/doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0425

Nelson, J.A., C.D. Stallings, W. M. Landing, and J. Chanton. 2013. Biomass transfer subsidizes nitrogen to offshore food webs.Ecosystems. Doi: 10.1007/s10021-013-9672-1

Rastetter, E.B., R.D. Yanai, R.Q. Thomas, M.A. Vadeboncoeur, T.J. Fahey, M.C. Fisk, B.L. Kwiatkowski, and S.P. Hamburg. 2013. Recovery from Disturbance Requires Resynchronization of Ecosystem Nutrient Cycles. Ecological Applications 23:621-642.

Tomasky-Holmes, G., I. Valiela, and M. A. Charette. 2013. Determination of water mass ages using radium isotopes as tracers: Implications for phytoplankton dynamics in estuaries. Marine Chemistry. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2013.02.002.

Riskin, S.H., S, Porder, M. E. Schipanski, E. M. Bennett, and C, Neill. 2013. Regional Differences in Phosphorus Budgets in Intensive Soybean Agriculture. BioScience 63: 49–54.

Full Publications List

Seminars

May 21: Rob Spencer, Woods Hole Research Center. "From the Arctic to the Equator: The role of rivers in the carbon cycle." 12:15 PM, Speck Auditorium.

Research

The Ecosystems Center conducts research in Arctic Alaska, Sweden and Russia, the Antarctic, the streams and pastures of Brazil, and the estuaries of New England. More>>>

Education

The Ecosystems Center is actively involved in education. In addition to teaching in the Semester in Environmental Science, center scientists serve as adjunct professors and advisors in the Brown-MBL Graduate Program. More>>>

Give to the Ecosystems Center

Make a secure online donation today!