Climate change induces carbon loss from arable mineral soils

Article: Climate change induces carbon loss of arable mineral soils in boreal conditions

Authors: Heikkinen, Jaakko et al.

Publication: Global change biology

Year: 2022

One-fourth of the global soil organic carbon (SOC) is stored in the boreal region, where climate is warming fast. In this study, SOC content of topsoil in arable lands decreased on average at the rate of 0.35% per year between 2009–2018. The most important drivers of the soil carbon loss were the increase in summertime (May–Sep) temperature and increased precipitation. Former organic soils were particularly prone to high SOC losses. It seems that although SOC content can be increased by management practices, such as diversifying crop rotations and cultivating perennial grasses, it is unlikely that these management practices are sufficient to counterbalance all the climate-change-induced SOC losses. Thus, it is important to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, too.