Soil warming increases metabolic quotients of soil microbial communities without changes in temperature sensitivity of soil respiration

Title: “Soil warming increases metabolic quotients of soil microbial communities without changes in temperature sensitivity of soil respiration”

Speaker: Sara Marañón Jiménez. Postdoctoral Researcher del Departamento de Física Aplicada de la UGR.

Organizes: Atmospheric Physics Group

Place: Instituto Interuniversitario de Investigación del Sistema Tierra en Andalucía (IISTA). Conference room

Date: Aprol 7th , 2017

Time: 13:30 h

Summary:

Increasing temperatures can accelerate soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition and release large amounts of CO2 to the atmosphere, potentially inducing climate change feedbacks. Alterations to the temperature sensitivity and metabolic pathways of soil microorganisms in response to soil warming can play a key role in these soil carbon (C) losses. I will present results of an incubation experiment using soils from a geothermal gradient in Iceland that have been subjected to different intensities of soil warming over seven years. Seven year of continuous exposure to warmer temperatures triggered a change in the metabolic functioning of the soil microbial communities towards increasing energy costs for maintenance or resource acquisition, thereby lowering the capacity of C retention and stabilization of warmed soils. These results highlight the need to incorporate the potential changes in microbial physiological functioning into models, in order to accurately predict future changes in soil C stocks in response to global warming.