New research suggests increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) could prompt soil-dwelling microbes to produce even more of the compound, further accelerating climate change.
The study calls into question current ideas of how CO2 accumulates in the soil, a Northern Arizona University news release reported.
When levels of CO2 increase plant growth accelerates as well, causing the plants to absorb even more CO2 through photosynthesis.
Until this new study researchers believed CO2 could be stored in wood and soil for extended periods of time, helping to get the compound out of the atmosphere and slow down climate change.
The recent study suggests the excess carbon in the soil acts as fuel for the microorganisms that release even more CO2 into the atmosphere.
"Our findings mean that nature is not as efficient in slowing global warming as we previously thought," Kees Jan van Groenigenresearch fellow at the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at NAU and lead author of the study, said in the news release. "By overlooking this effect of increased CO2 on soil microbes, models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change may have overestimated the potential of soil to store carbon and mitigate the greenhouse effect."
The research team used statistical techniques to make their findings; through this process the researchers compared the data to models in hopes of pinpointing general patterns. The team got their information from 53 studies that looked at "forests, grasslands and agricultural fields" across the globe, the news release reported.
"We've long thought soils to be a stable, safe place to store carbon, but our results show soil carbon is not as stable as we previously thought," Bruce Hungate, director of the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at NAU and study author, said in a news release. "We should not be complacent about continued subsidies from nature in slowing climate change."
