Equilibrium in soil respiration across a climosequence indicates its resilience to climate change in a glaciated valley, western Himalaya

Soil respiration (SR), a natural phenomenon, emits ten times more CO 2 from land than anthropogenic sources. It is predicted that climate warming would increase SR in most ecosystems and give rise to positive feedback. However, there are uncertainties associated with this prediction primarily due to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-11, Vol.11 (1), p.23038-23038, Article 23038
Main Authors: Tiwari, Pankaj, Bhattacharya, Pamela, Rawat, Gopal Singh, Talukdar, Gautam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/106/694/2739
704/172/4081
Anthropogenic factors
Carbon dioxide
Climate change
Climate prediction
Elevation
Environmental impact
Equilibrium
Global warming
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Net zero
Organic carbon
Organic soils
Respiration
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Soil temperature
Soils
Temperature gradients
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Summary:Soil respiration (SR), a natural phenomenon, emits ten times more CO 2 from land than anthropogenic sources. It is predicted that climate warming would increase SR in most ecosystems and give rise to positive feedback. However, there are uncertainties associated with this prediction primarily due to variability in the relationship of SR with its two significant drivers, soil temperature and moisture. Accounting for the variabilities, we use a climosequence in Himalaya with a temperature gradient of ~ 2.1 °C to understand the variations in the response of SR and its temperature sensitivity to climate change. Results indicate an equilibrium in SR ranging from 1.92 to 2.42 µmol m −2  s −1 across an elevation gradient (3300–3900 m) despite its increased sensitivity to temperature (Q 10 ) from 0.47 to 4.97. Additionally, moisture reduction towards lower elevation weakens the temperature-SR relationship. Finally, soil organic carbon shows similarities at all the elevations, indicating a net-zero CO 2 flux across the climosequence. The findings suggest that as the climate warms in this region, the temperature sensitivity of SR reduces drastically due to moisture reduction, limiting any change in SR and soil organic carbon to rising temperature. We introduce an equilibrium mechanism in this study which indicates the resilient nature of SR to climate change and will aid in enhancing the accuracy of climate change impact projections.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-02199-x