The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils

Abstract The boreal forest is among the largest terrestrial biomes on earth, storing more carbon (C) than the atmosphere. Due to rapid climatic warming and enhanced human development, the boreal region may have begun transitioning from a net C sink to a net source. This raises serious concern that o...

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Autores principales:	Geert Hensgens, Hjalmar Laudon, Mark S. Johnson, Martin Berggren
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/e9881fda05a5406c8600f790864918fd
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:e9881fda05a5406c8600f790864918fd2021-12-02T16:31:11ZThe undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils10.1038/s41598-021-85506-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e9881fda05a5406c8600f790864918fd2021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-85506-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The boreal forest is among the largest terrestrial biomes on earth, storing more carbon (C) than the atmosphere. Due to rapid climatic warming and enhanced human development, the boreal region may have begun transitioning from a net C sink to a net source. This raises serious concern that old biogenic soil C can be re-introduced into the modern C cycle in near future. Combining bio-decay experiments, mixing models and the Keeling plot method, we discovered a distinct old pre-bomb organic carbon fraction with high biodegradation rate. In total, 34 ± 12% of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) in podzols, one of the dominating boreal soil types, consisted of aged (~ 1000 year) labile C. The omission of this aged (i.e., Δ14C depleted) WEOC fraction in earlier studies is due to the co-occurrence with Δ14C enriched modern C formed following 1950s nuclear bomb testing masking its existence. High lability of aged soil WEOC and masking effects of modern Δ14C enriched C suggests that the risk for mobilization and re-introduction of this ancient C pool into the modern C cycle has gone undetected. Our findings have important implications for earth systems models in terms of climate-carbon feedbacks and the future C balance of the boreal forest.Geert HensgensHjalmar LaudonMark S. JohnsonMartin BerggrenNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Geert Hensgens Hjalmar Laudon Mark S. Johnson Martin Berggren The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
description	Abstract The boreal forest is among the largest terrestrial biomes on earth, storing more carbon (C) than the atmosphere. Due to rapid climatic warming and enhanced human development, the boreal region may have begun transitioning from a net C sink to a net source. This raises serious concern that old biogenic soil C can be re-introduced into the modern C cycle in near future. Combining bio-decay experiments, mixing models and the Keeling plot method, we discovered a distinct old pre-bomb organic carbon fraction with high biodegradation rate. In total, 34 ± 12% of water-extractable organic carbon (WEOC) in podzols, one of the dominating boreal soil types, consisted of aged (~ 1000 year) labile C. The omission of this aged (i.e., Δ14C depleted) WEOC fraction in earlier studies is due to the co-occurrence with Δ14C enriched modern C formed following 1950s nuclear bomb testing masking its existence. High lability of aged soil WEOC and masking effects of modern Δ14C enriched C suggests that the risk for mobilization and re-introduction of this ancient C pool into the modern C cycle has gone undetected. Our findings have important implications for earth systems models in terms of climate-carbon feedbacks and the future C balance of the boreal forest.
format	article
author	Geert Hensgens Hjalmar Laudon Mark S. Johnson Martin Berggren
author_facet	Geert Hensgens Hjalmar Laudon Mark S. Johnson Martin Berggren
author_sort	Geert Hensgens
title	The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
title_short	The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
title_full	The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
title_fullStr	The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
title_full_unstemmed	The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
title_sort	undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/e9881fda05a5406c8600f790864918fd
work_keys_str_mv	AT geerthensgens theundetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT hjalmarlaudon theundetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT marksjohnson theundetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT martinberggren theundetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT geerthensgens undetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT hjalmarlaudon undetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT marksjohnson undetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils AT martinberggren undetectedlossofagedcarbonfromborealmineralsoils
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The undetected loss of aged carbon from boreal mineral soils

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