Evidence that decomposition rates of organic carbon in mineral soil do not vary with temperature

It has been suggested that increases in temperature can accelerate the decomposition of organic carbon contained in forest mineral soil (Cs ), and, therefore, that global warming should increase the release of soil organic carbon to the atmosphere. These predictions assume, however, that decay const...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2000-04, Vol.404 (6780), p.858-861
Main Authors: Giardina, Christian P, Ryan, Michael G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Atmosphere
Biological and medical sciences
Carbon
Carbon - metabolism
Climate change
Decay
Decomposition
Forest soils
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Global warming
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Litter
Microbial activity
Minerals
multidisciplinary
Organic carbon
Organic chemistry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Soil
Space life sciences
Synecology
Temperature
Terrestrial ecosystems
Trees
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Summary:It has been suggested that increases in temperature can accelerate the decomposition of organic carbon contained in forest mineral soil (Cs ), and, therefore, that global warming should increase the release of soil organic carbon to the atmosphere. These predictions assume, however, that decay constants can be accurately derived from short-term laboratory incubations of soil or that in situ incubations of fresh litter accurately represent the temperature sensitivity of C s decomposition. But our limited understanding of the biophysical factors that control Cs decomposition rates, and observations of only minor increases in Cs decomposition rate with temperature in longer-term forest soil heating experiments and in latitudinal comparisons of Cs decomposition rates bring these predictions into question. Here we have compiled Cs decomposition data from 82 sites on five continents. We found that Cs decomposition rates were remarkably constant across a global-scale gradient in mean annual temperature. These data suggest that Cs decomposition rates for forest soils are not controlled by temperature limitations to microbial activity, and that increased temperature alone will not stimulate the decomposition of forest-derived carbon in mineral soil.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/35009076