Soil Issues Soil is important part in the ecosystems. Climate change and anthrop

Question

Soil Issues Soil is important part in the ecosystems. Climate change and anthropogenic impact the soil by either modifying the quality of soil or losing it. Therefore, we need to understand how climate change and anthropogenic impact the respiration of soil, soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil organic nitrogen (SON). I want you to do research and write about the following: Literature reviews of issues above. Protocols and methods to study these types of issues. After looking at the literature reviews and what other researches have been done about this topic, and from your perspective what do you recommend about these issues? References need to be written in the text and the end of the report. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Explanation / Answer

We know Soil respiration is a biological process in microbes that convert organic carbon to atmospheric CO2 and is considered to be one of the largest global carbon fluxes on Earth.

Direct impacts of climate change on soil functions: Soil-climate models assuming constant inputs of carbon to soils from Vegetation predicts the expected changes in temperature, precipitation and evaporation with a concomitant increase in organic matter turnover facilitating increased losses of CO2 in mineral and organic soils.

Due to the temperature sensitivity in soil respiration, it is not surprising to see massive changes in Earth’s global carbon balance from global warming. Changes in environmental carbon fluxes holds strong relevance in human society, including changes in agricultural land use,(like degrading of land) atmospheric ozone concentration and preservation of natural resources.

SOME EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING IN SOIL

1.Temperature
Temperature is one of the biggest contributors to effect of soil Over the past century, global atmospheric temperatures have increased by approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius, a phenomenon many scientists believe to be caused by elevated greenhouse gas emissions. Increased soil temperature as a result of global warming has been shown to promote temperature dependent carbon cycling pathways in soil microbes, including decomposition and nutrient mineralization. In the case of decomposition, organic carbon substrates are often complex and require a high temperature activation energy, thus an increase in soil temperature will provide sufficient activation energy for rapid substrate degradation via enzymatic reactions by soil microbes.

2.Soil Moisture
Soil moisture is another important factor that regulates CO2 efflux from soil respiration.

Several factors regulate the amount of carbon soils can sequester including climate, the parent material, the age and texture of the soil, the topography, the vegetation type, and the composition of the soil community.

Reference

1.Aggarwal, P.K. and S.K. Sinha, 1993. Effect of probable increase in carbon dioxide and temperature on wheat yields in India. J. Agric. Meteorol., 48: 811-814.

2.DEFRA., 2005. Impact of climate change on soil functions. Final Project Report, Research and Development, London, UK.

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