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Soil carbon loss with warming: New evidence from carbon‐degrading enzymes
Author(s) -
Chen Ji,
Elsgaard Lars,
Groenigen Kees Jan,
Olesen Jørgen E.,
Liang Zhi,
Jiang Yu,
Lærke Poul E.,
Zhang Yuefang,
Luo Yiqi,
Hungate Bruce A.,
Sinsabaugh Robert L.,
Jørgensen Uffe
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.14986
Subject(s) - soil carbon , environmental science , global warming , climate change , cellulase , carbon sequestration , ecology , agronomy , soil water , soil science , chemistry , carbon dioxide , biology , enzyme , biochemistry
Climate warming affects soil carbon (C) dynamics, with possible serious consequences for soil C stocks and atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. However, the mechanisms underlying changes in soil C storage are not well understood, hampering long‐term predictions of climate C‐feedbacks. The activity of the extracellular enzymes ligninase and cellulase can be used to track changes in the predominant C sources of soil microbes and can thus provide mechanistic insights into soil C loss pathways. Here we show, using meta‐analysis, that reductions in soil C stocks with warming are associated with increased ratios of ligninase to cellulase activity. Furthermore, whereas long‐term (≥5 years) warming reduced the soil recalcitrant C pool by 14%, short‐term warming had no significant effect. Together, these results suggest that warming stimulates microbial utilization of recalcitrant C pools, possibly exacerbating long‐term climate‐C feedbacks.