IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v14y2023i1d10.1038_s41467-023-38981-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global warming accelerates soil heterotrophic respiration

Author

Listed:
  • Alon Nissan

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Uria Alcolombri

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Nadav Peleg

    (University of Lausanne)

  • Nir Galili

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Joaquin Jimenez-Martinez

    (ETH Zürich
    Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, EAWAG)

  • Peter Molnar

    (ETH Zürich)

  • Markus Holzner

    (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, EAWAG
    Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research, WSL)

Abstract

Carbon efflux from soils is the largest terrestrial carbon source to the atmosphere, yet it is still one of the most uncertain fluxes in the Earth’s carbon budget. A dominant component of this flux is heterotrophic respiration, influenced by several environmental factors, most notably soil temperature and moisture. Here, we develop a mechanistic model from micro to global scale to explore how changes in soil water content and temperature affect soil heterotrophic respiration. Simulations, laboratory measurements, and field observations validate the new approach. Estimates from the model show that heterotrophic respiration has been increasing since the 1980s at a rate of about 2% per decade globally. Using future projections of surface temperature and soil moisture, the model predicts a global increase of about 40% in heterotrophic respiration by the end of the century under the worst-case emission scenario, where the Arctic region is expected to experience a more than two-fold increase, driven primarily by declining soil moisture rather than temperature increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Alon Nissan & Uria Alcolombri & Nadav Peleg & Nir Galili & Joaquin Jimenez-Martinez & Peter Molnar & Markus Holzner, 2023. "Global warming accelerates soil heterotrophic respiration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38981-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-38981-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-38981-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-023-38981-w?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. 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.
    2. Ben Bond-Lamberty & Vanessa L. Bailey & Min Chen & Christopher M. Gough & Rodrigo Vargas, 2018. "Globally rising soil heterotrophic respiration over recent decades," Nature, Nature, vol. 560(7716), pages 80-83, August.
    3. Zhifeng Yan & Ben Bond-Lamberty & Katherine E. Todd-Brown & Vanessa L. Bailey & SiLiang Li & CongQiang Liu & Chongxuan Liu, 2018. "A moisture function of soil heterotrophic respiration that incorporates microscale processes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Eric A. Davidson & Ivan A. Janssens, 2006. "Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change," Nature, Nature, vol. 440(7081), pages 165-173, March.
    5. Samuel Bickel & Dani Or, 2020. "Soil bacterial diversity mediated by microscale aqueous-phase processes across biomes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. W. Knorr & I. C. Prentice & J. I. House & E. A. Holland, 2005. "Long-term sensitivity of soil carbon turnover to warming," Nature, Nature, vol. 433(7023), pages 298-301, January.
    7. Eilidh J. Forster & John R. Healey & Caren Dymond & David Styles, 2021. "Commercial afforestation can deliver effective climate change mitigation under multiple decarbonisation pathways," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Hongru Sun & Guangsheng Zhou & Zhenzhu Xu & Yuhui Wang & Xiaodi Liu & Hongying Yu & Quanhui Ma & Bingrui Jia, 2020. "Temperature sensitivity increases with decreasing soil carbon quality in forest ecosystems across northeast China," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 373-384, June.
    2. Wei Wang & Wenjing Zeng & Weile Chen & Hui Zeng & Jingyun Fang, 2013. "Soil Respiration and Organic Carbon Dynamics with Grassland Conversions to Woodlands in Temperate China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(8), pages 1-10, August.
    3. Jinshi Jian & Vanessa Bailey & Kalyn Dorheim & Alexandra G. Konings & Dalei Hao & Alexey N. Shiklomanov & Abigail Snyder & Meredith Steele & Munemasa Teramoto & Rodrigo Vargas & Ben Bond-Lamberty, 2022. "Historically inconsistent productivity and respiration fluxes in the global terrestrial carbon cycle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Xue Chen & Haibo Hu & Qi Wang & Xia Wang & Bing Ma, 2024. "Exploring the Factors Affecting Terrestrial Soil Respiration in Global Warming Manipulation Experiments Based on Meta-Analysis," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Sihvonen, Matti & Pihlainen, Sampo & Lai, Tin-Yu & Salo, Tapio & Hyytiäinen, Kari, 2021. "Crop production, water pollution, or climate change mitigation—Which drives socially optimal fertilization management most?," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    7. Charlotte J. Alster & Allycia Laar & Jordan P. Goodrich & Vickery L. Arcus & Julie R. Deslippe & Alexis J. Marshall & Louis A. Schipper, 2023. "Quantifying thermal adaptation of soil microbial respiration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    8. Sierra, J. & Brisson, N. & Ripoche, D. & Déqué, M., 2010. "Modelling the impact of thermal adaptation of soil microorganisms and crop system on the dynamics of organic matter in a tropical soil under a climate change scenario," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 221(23), pages 2850-2858.
    9. Xiaoying Bao & Xiaoxue Zhu & Xiaofeng Chang & Shiping Wang & Burenbayin Xu & Caiyun Luo & Zhenhua Zhang & Qi Wang & Yichao Rui & Xiaoying Cui, 2016. "Effects of Soil Temperature and Moisture on Soil Respiration on the Tibetan Plateau," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(10), pages 1-14, October.
    10. Braakhekke, Maarten C. & Beer, Christian & Hoosbeek, Marcel R. & Reichstein, Markus & Kruijt, Bart & Schrumpf, Marion & Kabat, Pavel, 2011. "SOMPROF: A vertically explicit soil organic matter model," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(10), pages 1712-1730.
    11. Egor A. Dyukarev & Sergey A. Kurakov, 2023. "Response of Bare Soil Respiration to Air and Soil Temperature Variations According to Different Models: A Case Study of an Urban Grassland," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, April.
    12. Hui Wei & Yalan Liu & Huimin Xiang & Jiaen Zhang & Saifei Li & Jiayue Yang, 2019. "Soil pH Responses to Simulated Acid Rain Leaching in Three Agricultural Soils," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Md. Zonayet & Alok Kumar Paul & Md. Faisal-E-Alam & Khalid Syfullah & Rui Alexandre Castanho & Daniel Meyer, 2023. "Impact of Biochar as a Soil Conditioner to Improve the Soil Properties of Saline Soil and Productivity of Tomato," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    14. Aryal, Jeetendra P., 2022. "Contribution of Agriculture to Climate Change and Low-Emission Agricultural Development in Asia and the Pacific," ADBI Working Papers 1340, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    15. Brovkin, Victor & Cherkinsky, Alexander & Goryachkin, Sergey, 2008. "Estimating soil carbon turnover using radiocarbon data: A case-study for European Russia," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 216(2), pages 178-187.
    16. Ross Kingwell, 2021. "Making Agriculture Carbon Neutral Amid a Changing Climate: The Case of South-Western Australia," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    17. Raitis Normunds Meļņiks & Arta Bārdule & Aldis Butlers & Jordane Champion & Santa Kalēja & Ilona Skranda & Guna Petaja & Andis Lazdiņš, 2023. "Carbon Losses from Topsoil in Abandoned Peat Extraction Sites Due to Ground Subsidence and Erosion," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, December.
    18. Xiangwen Wu & Shuying Zang & Dalong Ma & Jianhua Ren & Qiang Chen & Xingfeng Dong, 2019. "Emissions of CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O Fluxes from Forest Soil in Permafrost Region of Daxing’an Mountains, Northeast China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.
    19. Husnain Husnain & I. Wigena & Ai Dariah & Setiari Marwanto & Prihasto Setyanto & Fahmuddin Agus, 2014. "CO 2 emissions from tropical drained peat in Sumatra, Indonesia," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 845-862, August.
    20. Nikolay Gorbach & Viktor Startsev & Anton Mazur & Evgeniy Milanovskiy & Anatoly Prokushkin & Alexey Dymov, 2022. "Simulation of Smoldering Combustion of Organic Horizons at Pine and Spruce Boreal Forests with Lab-Heating Experiments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-20, 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:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-38981-w. 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.