Determinants of carbon release from the active layer and permafrost deposits on the Tibetan Plateau.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 27703168.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms13046 and PMC identifier 5059472.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The sign and magnitude of permafrost carbon (C)-climate feedback are highly uncertain due to the limited understanding of the decomposability of thawing permafrost and relevant mechanistic controls over C release. Here, by combining aerobic incubation with biomarker analysis and a three-pool model, we reveal that C quality (represented by a higher amount of fast cycling C but a lower amount of recalcitrant C compounds) and normalized CO<sub>2</sub>-C release in permafrost deposits were similar or even higher than those in the active layer, demonstrating a high vulnerability of C in Tibetan upland permafrost. We also illustrate that C quality exerts the most control over CO<sub>2</sub>-C release from the active layer, whereas soil microbial abundance is more directly associated with CO<sub>2</sub>-C release after permafrost thaw. Taken together, our findings highlight the importance of incorporating microbial properties into Earth System Models when predicting permafrost C dynamics under a changing environment.