Warming, High Carbon Dioxide Change Soil Microbiomes

Abstract

Warmer temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide significantly alter soil microbiome structure and functions, according to Jizhong Zhou and Maggie Yuan at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, and collaborators at several institutions in the United States and China. In looking at microbial communities in active layers of Alaskan tundra, these researchers say those communities respond to increased warmth by releasing more carbon than they trap. Separately, in wetlands, global warming and higher levels of carbon dioxide induce changes in the soil microbiomes, fostering “an unusual biogeochemical profile,” according to Felix Beulig and Kirsten Kusel of Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Jena, Germany, and their collaborators.