Warming May Cause Arctic Plants and Microbes to Release Carbon They Currently Store | Sierra
A team of over 70 scientists, including the late Jianwu (Jim) Tang, senior scientist in the MBL Ecosystems Center, used open-top chambers (OTCs) to experimentally simulate the effects of warming on 28 tundra sites around the world. The massive synthesis study was published in Nature in April. Anne Giblin, director of the Ecosystems Center, is quoted in this article by Sierra Club Magazine.
New analysis shows that over time, this process could turn tundra ecosystems from carbon sinks to sources of emissions.
Beneath snow and the low-lying vegetation that can survive in a tundra91海角乱伦檚 frigid temperatures is soil that holds onto a massive store of carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere. Unlike some of the world91海角乱伦檚 best known carbon sinks, which are dense forests91海角乱伦攕uch as the Amazon91海角乱伦攁 tundra is a vast open landscape with views unencumbered by trees. Rising global temperatures threaten to upend this order, however, turning tundras from key areas of carbon sequestration into sources of carbon emissions. New research, published earlier this month in , shows the likely role that plants and microbes will have in exacerbating these changing dynamics and helping scientists create more accurate climate models to predict the trajectory of global warming.
91海角乱伦淲arming can strongly stimulate plants and microbes in the tundra system to become more active and respire more carbon,91海角乱伦 said Sybryn Maes, a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven in Belgium and lead author on the paper. 91海角乱伦淲e really need to have as much understanding as possible 91海角乱伦 in the current climate change context.91海角乱伦
To help understand how much carbon tundra soil could release if global warming continues unabated, the authors compiled data from 56 artificial warming experiments in Arctic and alpine tundra ecosystems. These data come from experiments that ran from less than one year up to 25 years. Each experiment used a piece of equipment called an open-top chamber, which has a top open to the elements and clear sides, creating a mini greenhouse. The simple setup works well for Arctic ecosystems, where there often isn91海角乱伦檛 an electricity hookup nearby that could power a soil heater or tall vegetation that would ruin the chamber91海角乱伦檚 warming effect. .