New Berkeley Lab model quantifies interactions between soil
microbes and their surroundings
Here’s another reason to pay close attention to microbes:
Current climate models probably overestimate the amount of carbon that will be
released from soil into the atmosphere as global temperatures rise, according
to research from the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).
The findings are from a new computer model that explores the
feedbacks between soil carbon and climate change. It’s the first such model to
include several physiologically realistic representations of how soil microbes
break down organic matter, a process that annually unleashes about ten times as
much carbon into the atmosphere as fossil fuel emissions. In contrast, today’s
models include a simplistic representation of microbial behavior.