Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 7-10-2023
Abstract
Walking through a forest, it’s easy to overlook the soil. But forest soils provide a vital space for roots, nutrient cycling, and water storage, and are home to a biodiverse suite of organisms collectively known as the soil biota. Soil biota include microbes such as bacteria, fungi, protists (amoebae), and viruses, as well as larger soil fauna such as earthworms, snails, slugs, spiders, millipedes, nematodes, and mites. Soil biota provide vital functions in breaking down and decomposing organic matter. Without them, dead matter would accumulate and nutrients would be inaccessible.
Recently, soils have gained attention because they are a critical component of the global carbon cycle and play a major role in regulating Earth’s climate. Globally, soils store four times more carbon than all aboveground plant biomass combined, making them the largest land-based carbon pool on Earth. Another notable feature of soils is that they can store carbon for a long time, in some cases over millennia. As discussed in the first article in this series, more than half of the carbon found in the forests of the Northeast is stored in the soil. Given the vast size of the soil carbon pool, any changes to it can significantly impact atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations. Therefore, understanding whether forest soils gain or lose carbon over time is critical to understanding Earth’s future carbon balance, and to managing forests to mitigate climate change.
Recommended Citation
Kosiba AM. 2023. Understanding Forest Soil Carbon. Northern Woodlands Magazine, Summer, pp. 34-41.
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