IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-31833-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drivers and trends of global soil microbial carbon over two decades

Author

Listed:
  • Guillaume Patoine

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Nico Eisenhauer

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Simone Cesarz

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

  • Helen R. P. Phillips

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University
    Saint Mary’s University
    Natural History Museum)

  • Xiaofeng Xu

    (San Diego State University)

  • Lihua Zhang

    (Minzu University of China)

  • Carlos A. Guerra

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Leipzig University)

Abstract

Soil microorganisms are central to sustain soil functions and services, like carbon and nutrient cycling. Currently, we only have a limited understanding of the spatial-temporal dynamics of soil microorganisms, restricting our ability to assess long-term effects of climate and land-cover change on microbial roles in soil biogeochemistry. This study assesses the temporal trends in soil microbial biomass carbon and identifies the main drivers of biomass change regionally and globally to detect the areas sensitive to these environmental factors. Here, we combined a global soil microbial biomass carbon data set, random forest modelling, and environmental layers to predict spatial-temporal dynamics of microbial biomass carbon stocks from 1992 to 2013. Soil microbial biomass carbon stocks decreased globally by 3.4 ± 3.0% (mean ± 95% CI) between 1992 and 2013 for the predictable regions, equivalent to 149 Mt being lost over the period, or ~1‰ of soil C. Northern areas with high soil microbial carbon stocks experienced the strongest decrease, mostly driven by increasing temperatures. In contrast, land-cover change was a weaker global driver of change in microbial carbon, but had, in some cases, important regional effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Guillaume Patoine & Nico Eisenhauer & Simone Cesarz & Helen R. P. Phillips & Xiaofeng Xu & Lihua Zhang & Carlos A. Guerra, 2022. "Drivers and trends of global soil microbial carbon over two decades," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31833-z
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31833-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31833-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-31833-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Carlos A. Guerra & Concha Cano-Díaz & Eleonora Egidi & Jun-Tao Wang & Nico Eisenhauer & Brajesh K. Singh & Fernando T. Maestre, 2020. "The proportion of soil-borne pathogens increases with warming at the global scale," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(6), pages 550-554, June.
    2. Franciska T. Vries & Rob I. Griffiths & Mark Bailey & Hayley Craig & Mariangela Girlanda & Hyun Soon Gweon & Sara Hallin & Aurore Kaisermann & Aidan M. Keith & Marina Kretzschmar & Philippe Lemanceau , 2018. "Soil bacterial networks are less stable under drought than fungal networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Zhenghu Zhou & Chuankuan Wang & Yiqi Luo, 2020. "Meta-analysis of the impacts of global change factors on soil microbial diversity and functionality," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Richard D. Bardgett & Wim H. van der Putten, 2014. "Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning," Nature, Nature, vol. 515(7528), pages 505-511, November.
    5. Carlos A. Guerra & Anna Heintz-Buschart & Johannes Sikorski & Antonis Chatzinotas & Nathaly Guerrero-Ramírez & Simone Cesarz & Léa Beaumelle & Matthias C. Rillig & Fernando T. Maestre & Manuel Delgado, 2020. "Blind spots in global soil biodiversity and ecosystem function research," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Tomislav Hengl & Jorge Mendes de Jesus & Gerard B M Heuvelink & Maria Ruiperez Gonzalez & Milan Kilibarda & Aleksandar Blagotić & Wei Shangguan & Marvin N Wright & Xiaoyuan Geng & Bernhard Bauer-Marsc, 2017. "SoilGrids250m: Global gridded soil information based on machine learning," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-40, February.
    7. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Fernando T. Maestre & Peter B. Reich & Thomas C. Jeffries & Juan J. Gaitan & Daniel Encinar & Miguel Berdugo & Colin D. Campbell & Brajesh K. Singh, 2016. "Microbial diversity drives multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, April.
    8. Madhav P. Thakur & Peter B. Reich & Sarah E. Hobbie & Artur Stefanski & Roy Rich & Karen E. Rice & William C. Eddy & Nico Eisenhauer, 2018. "Reduced feeding activity of soil detritivores under warmer and drier conditions," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 75-78, January.
    9. William R. Wieder & Gordon B. Bonan & Steven D. Allison, 2013. "Global soil carbon projections are improved by modelling microbial processes," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(10), pages 909-912, October.
    10. Natasja van Gestel & Zheng Shi & Kees Jan van Groenigen & Craig W. Osenberg & Louise C. Andresen & Jeffrey S. Dukes & Mark J. Hovenden & Yiqi Luo & Anders Michelsen & Elise Pendall & Peter B. Reich & , 2018. "Predicting soil carbon loss with warming," Nature, Nature, vol. 554(7693), pages 4-5, February.
    11. T. W. Crowther & K. E. O. Todd-Brown & C. W. Rowe & W. R. Wieder & J. C. Carey & M. B. Machmuller & B. L. Snoek & S. Fang & G. Zhou & S. D. Allison & J. M. Blair & S. D. Bridgham & A. J. Burton & Y. C, 2016. "Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming," Nature, Nature, vol. 540(7631), pages 104-108, December.
    12. Johan Hoogen & Stefan Geisen & Devin Routh & Howard Ferris & Walter Traunspurger & David A. Wardle & Ron G. M. Goede & Byron J. Adams & Wasim Ahmad & Walter S. Andriuzzi & Richard D. Bardgett & Michae, 2019. "Soil nematode abundance and functional group composition at a global scale," Nature, Nature, vol. 572(7768), pages 194-198, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chao Yue & Jinshi Jian & Philippe Ciais & Xiaohua Ren & Juying Jiao & Shaoshan An & Yu Li & Jie Wu & Pengyi Zhang & Ben Bond-Lamberty, 2024. "Field experiments show no consistent reductions in soil microbial carbon in response to warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-5, December.
    2. Guillaume Patoine & Nico Eisenhauer & Simone Cesarz & Helen R. P. Phillips & Xiaofeng Xu & Lihua Zhang & Carlos A. Guerra, 2024. "Reply to: Field experiments show no consistent reductions in soil microbial carbon in response to warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-3, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. M. Lavallee & M. Chomel & N. Alvarez Segura & F. Castro & T. Goodall & M. Magilton & J. M. Rhymes & M. Delgado-Baquerizo & R. I. Griffiths & E. M. Baggs & T. Caruso & F. T. Vries & M. Emmerson & D., 2024. "Land management shapes drought responses of dominant soil microbial taxa across grasslands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Anton M. Potapov & Carlos A. Guerra & Johan Hoogen & Anatoly Babenko & Bruno C. Bellini & Matty P. Berg & Steven L. Chown & Louis Deharveng & Ľubomír Kováč & Natalia A. Kuznetsova & Jean-François Pong, 2023. "Globally invariant metabolism but density-diversity mismatch in springtails," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Iain P. Hartley & Tim C. Hill & Sarah E. Chadburn & Gustaf Hugelius, 2021. "Temperature effects on carbon storage are controlled by soil stabilisation capacities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Anita Zapałowska & Andrzej Skwiercz & Dawid Kozacki & Czesław Puchalski, 2024. "Employing Plant Parasitic Nematodes as an Indicator for Assessing Advancements in Landfill Remediation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Dina in ‘t Zandt & Zuzana Kolaříková & Tomáš Cajthaml & Zuzana Münzbergová, 2023. "Plant community stability is associated with a decoupling of prokaryote and fungal soil networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    6. Shuai Ren & Tao Wang & Bertrand Guenet & Dan Liu & Yingfang Cao & Jinzhi Ding & Pete Smith & Shilong Piao, 2024. "Projected soil carbon loss with warming in constrained Earth system models," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    7. Maëva Labouyrie & Cristiano Ballabio & Ferran Romero & Panos Panagos & Arwyn Jones & Marc W. Schmid & Vladimir Mikryukov & Olesya Dulya & Leho Tedersoo & Mohammad Bahram & Emanuele Lugato & Marcel G. , 2023. "Patterns in soil microbial diversity across Europe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, December.
    8. Rui Yin & Wenkuan Qin & Xudong Wang & Dong Xie & Hao Wang & Hongyang Zhao & Zhenhua Zhang & Jin-Sheng He & Martin Schädler & Paul Kardol & Nico Eisenhauer & Biao Zhu, 2023. "Experimental warming causes mismatches in alpine plant-microbe-fauna phenology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Rui Zhao & Junying Li & Kening Wu & Long Kang, 2021. "Cultivated Land Use Zoning Based on Soil Function Evaluation from the Perspective of Black Soil Protection," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-29, June.
    10. Xiaogang Li & Dele Chen & Víctor J. Carrión & Daniel Revillini & Shan Yin & Yuanhua Dong & Taolin Zhang & Xingxiang Wang & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, 2023. "Acidification suppresses the natural capacity of soil microbiome to fight pathogenic Fusarium infections," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Mingming Wang & Xiaowei Guo & Shuai Zhang & Liujun Xiao & Umakant Mishra & Yuanhe Yang & Biao Zhu & Guocheng Wang & Xiali Mao & Tian Qian & Tong Jiang & Zhou Shi & Zhongkui Luo, 2022. "Global soil profiles indicate depth-dependent soil carbon losses under a warmer climate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    12. Shuqi Qin & Dianye Zhang & Bin Wei & Yuanhe Yang, 2024. "Dual roles of microbes in mediating soil carbon dynamics in response to warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Hanna Meyer & Edzer Pebesma, 2022. "Machine learning-based global maps of ecological variables and the challenge of assessing them," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-4, December.
    14. Minna Zhang & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Guangyin Li & Forest Isbell & Yue Wang & Yann Hautier & Yao Wang & Yingli Xiao & Jinting Cai & Xiaobin Pan & Ling Wang, 2023. "Experimental impacts of grazing on grassland biodiversity and function are explained by aridity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Gaowen Yang & Masahiro Ryo & Julien Roy & Daniel R. Lammel & Max-Bernhard Ballhausen & Xin Jing & Xuefeng Zhu & Matthias C. Rillig, 2022. "Multiple anthropogenic pressures eliminate the effects of soil microbial diversity on ecosystem functions in experimental microcosms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    16. Daniel S. Maynard & Lalasia Bialic-Murphy & Constantin M. Zohner & Colin Averill & Johan Hoogen & Haozhi Ma & Lidong Mo & Gabriel Reuben Smith & Alicia T. R. Acosta & Isabelle Aubin & Erika Berenguer , 2022. "Global relationships in tree functional traits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Jialing Teng & Ruixing Hou & Jennifer A. J. Dungait & Guiyao Zhou & Yakov Kuzyakov & Jingbo Zhang & Jing Tian & Zhenling Cui & Fusuo Zhang & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, 2024. "Conservation agriculture improves soil health and sustains crop yields after long-term warming," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    18. Lychuk, Taras E. & Hill, Robert L. & Izaurralde, Roberto C. & Momen, Bahram & Thomson, Allison M., 2021. "Evaluation of climate change impacts and effectiveness of adaptation options on nitrate loss, microbial respiration, and soil organic carbon in the Southeastern USA," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    19. Nina Tiel & Fabian Fopp & Philipp Brun & Johan Hoogen & Dirk Nikolaus Karger & Cecilia M. Casadei & Lisha Lyu & Devis Tuia & Niklaus E. Zimmermann & Thomas W. Crowther & Loïc Pellissier, 2024. "Regional uniqueness of tree species composition and response to forest loss and climate change," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    20. Elliott R. Dossou-Yovo & Sander J. Zwart & Amadou Kouyaté & Ibrahima Ouédraogo & Oladele Bakare, 2018. "Predictors of Drought in Inland Valley Landscapes and Enabling Factors for Rice Farmers’ Mitigation Measures in the Sudan-Sahel Zone," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31833-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.