[1] Using the Integrated Terrestrial Ecosystem Carbon Cycle model (InTEC), six simulations with different input scenarios of climate, CO2, and nitrogen (N) deposition are conducted to study the changes of soil carbon (C) content in Canada’s forests and wetlands during 1901–2000. Simulated total C stored in Canada’s forest and wetland soils is 164.5 Pg C and accounts for about 7% of the global t...

Jack A. Morgan is plant physiologist and Feike Dijkstra is post-doc research ecologist at the Rangeland Resources Research Unit, Ronald F. Follett is research leader and soil scientist and Stephen Del Grosso is a soil scientist and ecologist at the Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service Northern Plains Area, Fort Collins, Colorado. Leon Hartwell Allen Jr. is soil ...

Systematic conservation planning efforts typically focus on protecting current patterns of biodiversity. Climate change is poised to shift species distributions, reshuffle communities, and alter ecosystem functioning. In such a dynamic environment, lands selected to protect today's biodiversity may fail to do so in the future. One proposed approach to designing reserve networks that are robust ...

Lakes at high altitude and latitude are typically unproductive ecosystems where external factors outweigh the relative importance of in-lake processes, making them ideal sentinels of climate change. Climate change is inducing upward vegetation shifts at high altitude and latitude regions that translate into changes in the pools of soil organic matter. Upon mobilization, this allochthonous organ...

[1] There is considerable evidence that future global climate change will increase temperature and alter precipitation regime. To better understand how these factors will influence soil water dynamics, it is imperative to use multifactorial experiments. A 1 year “pulse” experiment, with 4°C warming and a doubling in precipitation, was performed to evaluate the changes in soil moisture dynamics....

We present a study on the impact of soil and climatic variability on the yield of winter wheat in the Hérault-Libron-Orb Valley in southern France. The study was based on the use of a crop simulation model (Euro-ACCESS), run at 63 individual sites throughout the study area, for the current climate (1976 to 1984) and for potential future changes in temperature and precipitation (2047 to 2054). T...

Boreal forests contain 30% of the global forest carbon with the majority residing in soils. While challenging to quantify, soil carbon changes comprise a significant, and potentially increasing, part of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Thus, their estimation is important when designing forest-based climate change mitigation strategies and soil carbon change estimates are required for the reporting...

Little information is available on the seasonal response of soil microbial biomass to climate warming even though it is very sensitive to climate change. A two-year field experiment was conducted in the subalpine and alpine forests of the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China. The intact soil cores from 3,600 m site were incubated in three elevations (3,000 m, 3,300 m and 3,600 m) to simulate climate ...

Forest soils represent a significant pool for carbon sequestration and storage, but the factors controlling soil carbon cycling are not well constrained. We compared soil carbon dynamics at five broadleaf forests in the Eastern US that vary in climate, soil type, and soil ecology: two sites at the University of Michigan Biological Station (MI-Coarse, sandy; MI-Fine, loamy); Bartlett Experimenta...

[1] Thawing and freezing processes are key components in permafrost dynamics, and these processes play an important role in regulating the hydrological and carbon cycles in the northern high latitudes. In the present study, we apply a well-developed soil thermal model that fully couples heat and water transport, to simulate the thawing and freezing processes at daily time steps across multiple ...