Bacillus subtilisWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, KOOKABURRAAn estimated 2,500 billion metric tons of carbon is stored in the soil, so understanding interactions between the soil and the atmosphere is of critical importance to predicting the impacts of climate change. But determining the extent to which carbon dioxide-fixing microbes within the soil can affect the environment—and vice versa—has proved challenging. Two recent studies have highlighted the difficulties of understanding how soil microbes might respond to climate change and question whether climate models should account for these bugs.
In question are the kinds of feedbacks that can be expected from soil microbes in a warmer climate and the resulting effects on the global stocks of soil carbon. Existing climate models do not explicitly consider soil microbial respiration, as it has been considered too complicated, but some researchers argue that considering the soil microbiome is of critical importance. These microbes could help to store or release a lot more carbon and could in turn impact on the levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases—helping to speed up or slow down climate change.
In a study published in Nature this month (September 3), a team led by investigators at the U.K.’s University of Exeter examined the responses of microbes in soils taken from a range of climatic ...
