Articles | Volume 11, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-1077-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-1077-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Original research article
| 
08 Dec 2025
Original research article |
| 08 Dec 2025
| 08 Dec 2025
Warming accelerates the decomposition of root-derived hydrolysable lipids in a temperate forest and is depth- and compound class-dependent
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Cyrill Zosso
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Agroscope, Zurich, Switzerland
Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Elaine Pegoraro
Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
Margaret S. Torn
Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
Michael W. I. Schmidt
Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Binyan Sun, Guido L. B. Wiesenberg, Elaine Pegoraro, Margaret S. Torn, Michael W. I. Schmidt, and Mike C. Rowley
SOIL, 12, 757–771, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-757-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-757-2026, 2026
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Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon pool but vulnerable to loss under warming. Using a +4 °C whole-soil warming experiment at Blodgett Forest Research Station to 1 m depth, we investigated density fractions across depths. Below 50 cm, carbon quantity and composition shifted, mainly from losses of unprotected soil organic carbon. Soil carbon protected by minerals stayed largely stable, indicating organo-mineral protection buffers subsoil carbon loss.
Binyan Sun, Guido L. B. Wiesenberg, Elaine Pegoraro, Margaret S. Torn, Michael W. I. Schmidt, and Mike C. Rowley
SOIL, 12, 757–771, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-757-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-757-2026, 2026
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Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon pool but vulnerable to loss under warming. Using a +4 °C whole-soil warming experiment at Blodgett Forest Research Station to 1 m depth, we investigated density fractions across depths. Below 50 cm, carbon quantity and composition shifted, mainly from losses of unprotected soil organic carbon. Soil carbon protected by minerals stayed largely stable, indicating organo-mineral protection buffers subsoil carbon loss.
Kelcy Kent, Kyle Arndt, Danielle Trangmoe, Patrick Murphy, Sigrid Dengel, Margaret Torn, Oriana Chafe, Marco Montemayor, and Susan Natali
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3328, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3328, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for The Cryosphere (TC).
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With Arctic warming, thawing frozen ground releases greenhouse gases that further accelerate climate change. We analyzed a six-year record of carbon dioxide and methane gas exchange between the ecosystem and atmosphere at an Arctic tundra site, finding the site shifted between absorbing and releasing carbon depending on temperature, soil moisture, and landscape features, highlighting the importance of accounting for landscape variation when tracking and predicting evolving Arctic carbon stocks.
Dario Püntener, Philipp Zürcher, Tatjana C. Speckert, Carrie L. Thomas, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 12, 599–618, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-599-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-12-599-2026, 2026
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We studied how warmer temperatures affect carbon stored in mountain soils. In a year-long experiment with forest and pasture soils, we found that even moderate warming sped up the breakdown of plant material and soil carbon. Microorganisms became less efficient at higher temperatures. This means that rising temperatures could cause mountain soils to release more carbon, reinforcing climate change.
Jeffrey Beem-Miller, William J. Riley, Peter B. Reich, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Yuxuan Bai, Raimundo Bermudez Villanueva, Zach Brown, Abad Chabbi, Susan E. Crow, Wenxu Dong, Serita D. Frey, Paul J. Hanson, Kai Jensen, Melissa A. Knorr, Emma Lathrop, Avni Malhotra, Patrick Megonigal, Adrienne Nicotra, Andrew Nottingham, Genevieve L. Noyce, Roy L. Rich, Heidi Rodenhizer, Agustín Sarquis, Andreas Schindlbacher, Edward A. G. Schuur, Zheng Shi, Artur Stefanski, Viktoria Unger, Tana E. Wood, Yuanhe Yang, Zhijie Yang, Jizhong Zhou, Biao Zhu, and Margaret S. Torn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-23, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-23, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
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The Soil Warming to Depth Data Integration Effort (SWEDDIE) synthesizes data from deep soil warming experiments around the world (n = 23), offering new insight into warming responses of both surface and subsoils. We demonstrate that variation in soil warming with depth is driven largely by warming methodology, while soil moisture changes due to warming differ by ecosystem. This work serves a foundation for future syntheses with SWEDDIE.
Hirofumi Hashimoto, Weile Wang, Taejin Park, Sepideh Khajehei, Kazuhito Ichii, Andrew R. Michaelis, Alberto Guzman, Ramakrishna R. Nemani, Margaret S. Torn, Koong Yi, and Ian G. Brosnan
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 18, 397–410, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-397-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-397-2026, 2026
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We create the GeoNEX Coincident Ground Observations (GeCGO) dataset by extracting point data at observational network sites across the Americas from the gridded GeoNEX products. The GeoNEX dataset is a high-temporal-frequency dataset of the latest geostationary satellite observations. We also release the software GeoNEXTools, which helps with handling the GeCGO data. GeCGO and GeoNEXTools could help scientists use geostationary satellite data at ground observational sites of interest.
Dario Püntener, Tatjana C. Speckert, Yves-Alain Brügger, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 11, 991–1006, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-991-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-11-991-2025, 2025
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Alpine soils store much carbon but warming and changes in vegetation could reverse this by turning them into carbon sources. In a one-year laboratory study, we examined alpine forest and pasture soils and added fresh grass litter marked with a carbon tracer to track decomposition under different temperatures. Our findings reveal that fresh plant material drives soil breakdown more than temperature alone, offering new insights into how climate change may affect carbon storage in mountain regions.
Anna-Maria Virkkala, Isabel Wargowsky, Judith Vogt, McKenzie A. Kuhn, Simran Madaan, Richard O'Keefe, Tiffany Windholz, Kyle A. Arndt, Brendan M. Rogers, Jennifer D. Watts, Kelcy Kent, Mathias Göckede, David Olefeldt, Gerard Rocher-Ros, Edward A. G. Schuur, David Bastviken, Kristoffer Aalstad, Kelly Aho, Joonatan Ala-Könni, Haley Alcock, Inge Althuizen, Christopher D. Arp, Jun Asanuma, Katrin Attermeyer, Mika Aurela, Sivakiruthika Balathandayuthabani, Alan Barr, Maialen Barret, Ochirbat Batkhishig, Christina Biasi, Mats P. Björkman, Andrew Black, Elena Blanc-Betes, Pascal Bodmer, Julia Boike, Abdullah Bolek, Frédéric Bouchard, Ingeborg Bussmann, Lea Cabrol, Eleonora Canfora, Sean Carey, Karel Castro-Morales, Namyi Chae, Andres Christen, Torben R. Christensen, Casper T. Christiansen, Housen Chu, Graham Clark, Francois Clayer, Patrick Crill, Christopher Cunada, Scott J. Davidson, Joshua F. Dean, Sigrid Dengel, Matteo Detto, Catherine Dieleman, Florent Domine, Egor Dyukarev, Colin Edgar, Bo Elberling, Craig A. Emmerton, Eugenie Euskirchen, Grant Falvo, Thomas Friborg, Michelle Garneau, Mariasilvia Giamberini, Mikhail V. Glagolev, Miquel A. Gonzalez-Meler, Gustaf Granath, Jón Guðmundsson, Konsta Happonen, Yoshinobu Harazono, Lorna Harris, Josh Hashemi, Nicholas Hasson, Janna Heerah, Liam Heffernan, Manuel Helbig, Warren Helgason, Michal Heliasz, Greg Henry, Geert Hensgens, Tetsuya Hiyama, Macall Hock, David Holl, Beth Holmes, Jutta Holst, Thomas Holst, Gabriel Hould-Gosselin, Elyn Humphreys, Jacqueline Hung, Jussi Huotari, Hiroki Ikawa, Danil V. Ilyasov, Mamoru Ishikawa, Go Iwahana, Hiroki Iwata, Marcin Antoni Jackowicz-Korczynski, Joachim Jansen, Järvi Järveoja, Vincent E. J. Jassey, Rasmus Jensen, Katharina Jentzsch, Robert G. Jespersen, Carl-Fredrik Johannesson, Chersity P. Jones, Anders Jonsson, Ji Young Jung, Sari Juutinen, Evan Kane, Jan Karlsson, Sergey Karsanaev, Kuno Kasak, Julia Kelly, Kasha Kempton, Marcus Klaus, George W. Kling, Natacha Kljun, Jacqueline Knutson, Hideki Kobayashi, John Kochendorfer, Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, Pasi Kolari, Mika Korkiakoski, Aino Korrensalo, Pirkko Kortelainen, Egle Koster, Kajar Koster, Ayumi Kotani, Praveena Krishnan, Juliya Kurbatova, Lars Kutzbach, Min Jung Kwon, Ethan D. Kyzivat, Jessica Lagroix, Theodore Langhorst, Elena Lapshina, Tuula Larmola, Klaus S. Larsen, Isabelle Laurion, Justin Ledman, Hanna Lee, A. Joshua Leffler, Lance Lesack, Anders Lindroth, David Lipson, Annalea Lohila, Efrén López-Blanco, Vincent L. St. Louis, Erik Lundin, Misha Luoto, Takashi Machimura, Marta Magnani, Avni Malhotra, Marja Maljanen, Ivan Mammarella, Elisa Männistö, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Phil Marsh, Pertti J. Martkainen, Maija E. Marushchak, Mikhail Mastepanov, Alex Mavrovic, Trofim Maximov, Christina Minions, Marco Montemayor, Tomoaki Morishita, Patrick Murphy, Daniel F. Nadeau, Erin Nicholls, Mats B. Nilsson, Anastasia Niyazova, Jenni Nordén, Koffi Dodji Noumonvi, Hannu Nykanen, Walter Oechel, Anne Ojala, Tomohiro Okadera, Sujan Pal, Alexey V. Panov, Tim Papakyriakou, Dario Papale, Sang-Jong Park, Frans-Jan W. Parmentier, Gilberto Pastorello, Mike Peacock, Matthias Peichl, Roman Petrov, Kyra St. Pierre, Norbert Pirk, Jessica Plein, Vilmantas Preskienis, Anatoly Prokushkin, Jukka Pumpanen, Hilary A. Rains, Niklas Rakos, Aleski Räsänen, Helena Rautakoski, Riika Rinnan, Janne Rinne, Adrian Rocha, Nigel Roulet, Alexandre Roy, Anna Rutgersson, Aleksandr F. Sabrekov, Torsten Sachs, Erik Sahlée, Alejandro Salazar, Henrique Oliveira Sawakuchi, Christopher Schulze, Roger Seco, Armando Sepulveda-Jauregui, Svetlana Serikova, Abbey Serrone, Hanna M. Silvennoinen, Sofie Sjogersten, June Skeeter, Jo Snöälv, Sebastian Sobek, Oliver Sonnentag, Emily H. Stanley, Maria Strack, Lena Strom, Patrick Sullivan, Ryan Sullivan, Anna Sytiuk, Torbern Tagesson, Pierre Taillardat, Julie Talbot, Suzanne E. Tank, Mario Tenuta, Irina Terenteva, Frederic Thalasso, Antoine Thiboult, Halldor Thorgeirsson, Fenix Garcia Tigreros, Margaret Torn, Amy Townsend-Small, Claire Treat, Alain Tremblay, Carlo Trotta, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Merritt Turetsky, Masahito Ueyama, Muhammad Umair, Aki Vähä, Lona van Delden, Maarten van Hardenbroek, Andrej Varlagin, Ruth K. Varner, Elena Veretennikova, Timo Vesala, Tarmo Virtanen, Carolina Voigt, Jorien E. Vonk, Robert Wagner, Katey Walter Anthony, Qinxue Wang, Masataka Watanabe, Hailey Webb, Jeffrey M. Welker, Andreas Westergaard-Nielsen, Sebastian Westermann, Jeffrey R. White, Christian Wille, Scott N. Williamson, Scott Zolkos, Donatella Zona, and Susan M. Natali
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Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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This dataset includes monthly measurements of carbon dioxide and methane exchange between land, water, and the atmosphere from over 1,000 sites in Arctic and boreal regions. It combines measurements from a variety of ecosystems, including wetlands, forests, tundra, lakes, and rivers, gathered by over 260 researchers from 1984–2024. This dataset can be used to improve and reduce uncertainty in carbon budgets in order to strengthen our understanding of climate feedbacks in a warming world.
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Tatjana Carina Speckert, Arnaud Huguet, and Guido Lars Bruno Wiesenberg
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-870, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-870, 2024
Preprint archived
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Afforestation on former pasture and its potential implication on the soil microbial community structure remains still an open question, particularly in mountainous regions. We investigate the effect of afforestation on a subalpine pasture on the soil microbial community structure by combining the analysis of PLFA and GDGTs. We found differences in the microbial community structure with evidence of increasing decomposition of soil organic matter due to the alteration in substrate quality.
Huimin Sun, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Jintao Li, Jinquan Li, Xiang Liu, Nicholas O. E. Ofiti, Shurong Zhou, and Ming Nie
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Tatjana C. Speckert, Jeannine Suremann, Konstantin Gavazov, Maria J. Santos, Frank Hagedorn, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
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Soil organic carbon (SOC) is key player in the global carbon cycle. Afforestation on pastures potentially alters organic matter input and SOC sequestration. We investigated the effects of a Picea abies L. afforestation sequence (0 to 130 years) on a former subalpine pasture on SOC stocks and dynamics. We found no difference in the SOC stock after 130 years of afforestation and thus no additional SOC sequestration. SOC composition was altered due to a modified SOC input following afforestation.
Niel Verbrigghe, Niki I. W. Leblans, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Sara Vicca, Chao Fang, Lucia Fuchslueger, Jennifer L. Soong, James T. Weedon, Christopher Poeplau, Cristina Ariza-Carricondo, Michael Bahn, Bertrand Guenet, Per Gundersen, Gunnhildur E. Gunnarsdóttir, Thomas Kätterer, Zhanfeng Liu, Marja Maljanen, Sara Marañón-Jiménez, Kathiravan Meeran, Edda S. Oddsdóttir, Ivika Ostonen, Josep Peñuelas, Andreas Richter, Jordi Sardans, Páll Sigurðsson, Margaret S. Torn, Peter M. Van Bodegom, Erik Verbruggen, Tom W. N. Walker, Håkan Wallander, and Ivan A. Janssens
Biogeosciences, 19, 3381–3393, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3381-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-3381-2022, 2022
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In subarctic grassland on a geothermal warming gradient, we found large reductions in topsoil carbon stocks, with carbon stocks linearly declining with warming intensity. Most importantly, however, we observed that soil carbon stocks stabilised within 5 years of warming and remained unaffected by warming thereafter, even after > 50 years of warming. Moreover, in contrast to the large topsoil carbon losses, subsoil carbon stocks remained unaffected after > 50 years of soil warming.
Carrie L. Thomas, Boris Jansen, E. Emiel van Loon, and Guido L. B. Wiesenberg
SOIL, 7, 785–809, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-785-2021, 2021
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Plant organs, such as leaves, contain a variety of chemicals that are eventually deposited into soil and can be useful for studying organic carbon cycling. We performed a systematic review of available data of one type of plant-derived chemical, n-alkanes, to determine patterns of degradation or preservation from the source plant to the soil. We found that while there was degradation in the amount of n-alkanes from plant to soil, some aspects of the chemical signature were preserved.
Cyrill U. Zosso, Nicholas O. E. Ofiti, Jennifer L. Soong, Emily F. Solly, Margaret S. Torn, Arnaud Huguet, Guido L. B. Wiesenberg, and Michael W. I. Schmidt
SOIL, 7, 477–494, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-477-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-7-477-2021, 2021
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How subsoil microorganisms respond to warming is largely unknown, despite their crucial role in the soil organic carbon cycle. We observed that the subsoil microbial community composition was more responsive to warming compared to the topsoil community composition. Decreased microbial abundance in subsoils, as observed in this study, might reduce the magnitude of the respiration response over time, and a shift in the microbial community will likely affect the cycling of soil organic carbon.
Kyle B. Delwiche, Sara Helen Knox, Avni Malhotra, Etienne Fluet-Chouinard, Gavin McNicol, Sarah Feron, Zutao Ouyang, Dario Papale, Carlo Trotta, Eleonora Canfora, You-Wei Cheah, Danielle Christianson, Ma. Carmelita R. Alberto, Pavel Alekseychik, Mika Aurela, Dennis Baldocchi, Sheel Bansal, David P. Billesbach, Gil Bohrer, Rosvel Bracho, Nina Buchmann, David I. Campbell, Gerardo Celis, Jiquan Chen, Weinan Chen, Housen Chu, Higo J. Dalmagro, Sigrid Dengel, Ankur R. Desai, Matteo Detto, Han Dolman, Elke Eichelmann, Eugenie Euskirchen, Daniela Famulari, Kathrin Fuchs, Mathias Goeckede, Sébastien Gogo, Mangaliso J. Gondwe, Jordan P. Goodrich, Pia Gottschalk, Scott L. Graham, Martin Heimann, Manuel Helbig, Carole Helfter, Kyle S. Hemes, Takashi Hirano, David Hollinger, Lukas Hörtnagl, Hiroki Iwata, Adrien Jacotot, Gerald Jurasinski, Minseok Kang, Kuno Kasak, John King, Janina Klatt, Franziska Koebsch, Ken W. Krauss, Derrick Y. F. Lai, Annalea Lohila, Ivan Mammarella, Luca Belelli Marchesini, Giovanni Manca, Jaclyn Hatala Matthes, Trofim Maximov, Lutz Merbold, Bhaskar Mitra, Timothy H. Morin, Eiko Nemitz, Mats B. Nilsson, Shuli Niu, Walter C. Oechel, Patricia Y. Oikawa, Keisuke Ono, Matthias Peichl, Olli Peltola, Michele L. Reba, Andrew D. Richardson, William Riley, Benjamin R. K. Runkle, Youngryel Ryu, Torsten Sachs, Ayaka Sakabe, Camilo Rey Sanchez, Edward A. Schuur, Karina V. R. Schäfer, Oliver Sonnentag, Jed P. Sparks, Ellen Stuart-Haëntjens, Cove Sturtevant, Ryan C. Sullivan, Daphne J. Szutu, Jonathan E. Thom, Margaret S. Torn, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Jessica Turner, Masahito Ueyama, Alex C. Valach, Rodrigo Vargas, Andrej Varlagin, Alma Vazquez-Lule, Joseph G. Verfaillie, Timo Vesala, George L. Vourlitis, Eric J. Ward, Christian Wille, Georg Wohlfahrt, Guan Xhuan Wong, Zhen Zhang, Donatella Zona, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Benjamin Poulter, and Robert B. Jackson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 3607–3689, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-3607-2021, 2021
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Methane is an important greenhouse gas, yet we lack knowledge about its global emissions and drivers. We present FLUXNET-CH4, a new global collection of methane measurements and a critical resource for the research community. We use FLUXNET-CH4 data to quantify the seasonality of methane emissions from freshwater wetlands, finding that methane seasonality varies strongly with latitude. Our new database and analysis will improve wetland model accuracy and inform greenhouse gas budgets.
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Short summary
To understand how warming will change the dynamics of roots across soil profile, we took usage of a long-term field warming experiment and incubated 13C-labelled roots at three different depths. After 3 years of incubation, at compound class level, the effects of warming on decomposition of root-derived hydrolysable lipids were compound class specific. At monomer level, warming effects on suberin-derived monomer decomposition were depth-dependent and their resistance increased with chain length.
To understand how warming will change the dynamics of roots across soil profile, we took usage...
