![]() ![]() Soil microbes appear to play a critical role in the process, Hu explains. The magnitude of carbon sequestration in such a grassland is yet to be determined, he notes. Hu says the implications are that grasslands can be carbon sinks - at least for the short term. They found a trend toward higher carbon content in the soil from plots given elevated carbon dioxide levels. Between 19, the researchers maintained two sets of open-top chambers at the grassland, one in which carbon dioxide levels were maintained at their normal level - 360 parts per million (ppm) - and one in which they were doubled to 720 ppm In 19, the scientists analyzed soil core samples from each of the plots. The results are from a five-year study conducted at an annual grassland on Stanford University’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve in central California. "Our data indicate that soil microbes quickly respond to changes in carbon and nitrogen availability and may play critical roles in determining the potential of grasslands - and other terrestrial ecosystems, too - to act as a carbon sink," Hu said.Ĭarbon sequestration occurs in an ecosystem when the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by growing plants is greater than the amount of the gas released by decomposing plant material. ![]() The research described in the Nature paper, however, identified a mechanism through which grassland soils can sequester carbon, and, in fact, found a trend toward increased soil carbon under elevated carbon dioxide conditions. Hu explains that other scientists have proposed that grasslands can act as carbon sinks when atmospheric carbon dioxide is elevated. Field of the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Dr. Stuart Chapin III, formerly at the University of California, Berkeley, and now at the University of Alaska Dr. Shuijin Hu, assistant professor of plant pathology at North Carolina State University. 11 issue of the journal Nature, may have important implications as scientists and policy-makers around the world debate ways to lower levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, believed to be a major contributor to the greenhouse effect and global climate change. The research findings, published in the Jan. ![]()
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