Climate change

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n10/pdf/ngeo2248.pdf

Efforts to limit climate change below a given temperature level require that global emissions of CO2 cumulated over time remain
below a limited quota. This quota varies depending on the temperature level, the desired probability of staying below this level
and the contributions of other gases. In spite of this restriction, global emissions of CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and cement
production have continued to grow by 2.5% per year on average over the past decade. Two thirds of the CO2 emission quota

Abstract

Kristen DeAngelis et al.

Soil microbes are major drivers of soil carbon cycling, yet we lack an understanding of how
climate warming will affect microbial communities. Three ongoing field studies at the Harvard Forest
Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site (Petersham, MA) have warmed soils 5oC above ambient
temperatures for 5, 8 and 20 years. We used this chronosequence to test the hypothesis that soil
microbial communities have changed in response to chronic warming. Bacterial community

1. While modelling efforts suggest that invasive species will track climate changes, empirical studies
are few. A relevant and largely unaddressed research question is ‘How will the presence of exotic
species interact with precipitation change to alter ecosystem structure and function?’
2. We studied the effects of changes in seasonal timing of precipitation on species composition and
resource availability in a grassland community in Colorado, USA. We examined how seasonal precipitation
patterns affect the abundance of historically present (native) and recently arrived (exotic)

Weaker soil carbon–climate feedbacks resulting from microbial and abiotic interactions
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2438.h...

Abstract

http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/v8/n10/abs/ismej201446a.html?WT.ec_i...

Microbial mediation of biogeochemical cycles revealed by simulation of global changes with soil transplant and cropping
Zhao et al. ISME 2014

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow associated with the Hofmockel lab. I am an ecologist working at the interface of above- and below-ground communities. My interests include ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, climate change, and invasive species. Through my research program, I examine local, mechanism-driven questions, which have advanced ecological theory regarding microbial community function, and landscape-level biogeochemical inquiries that relate to land management.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7516/full/nature13604.html

Soils store about four times as much carbon as plant biomass1, and
soil microbial respiration releases about 60 petagrams of carbon per
year to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide2. Short-term experiments
have shown that soil microbial respiration increases exponentially
with temperature3. This information has been incorporated into
soil carbon and Earth-system models, which suggest that warminginduced
increases in carbon dioxide release from soils represent an

Soils store about four times as much carbon as plant biomass1, and soil microbial respiration releases about 60 petagrams of carbon per year to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide2. Short-term experiments have shown that soil microbial respiration increases exponentially with temperature3. This information has been incorporated into soil carbon and Earth-system models, which suggest that warming-induced increases in carbon dioxide release from soils represent an important positive feedback loop that could influence twenty-first-century climate change4.

Soils store about four times as much carbon as plant biomass1, and soil microbial respiration releases about 60 petagrams of carbon per year to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide2. Short-term experiments have shown that soil microbial respiration increases exponentially with temperature3. This information has been incorporated into soil carbon and Earth-system models, which suggest that warming-induced increases in carbon dioxide release from soils represent an important positive feedback loop that could influence twenty-first-century climate change4.