Stability of organic carbon in deep soil layers controlled by fresh carbon supply

Sébastien Fontaine (), Sébastien Barot, Pierre Barré, Nadia Bdioui, Bruno Mary and Cornelia Rumpel
Additional contact information
Sébastien Fontaine: INRA, UR 874 Agronomie, 234 Avenue du Brézet, 63100 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Sébastien Barot: IRD, UMR 137, 32 Avenue H. Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France
Pierre Barré: BIOEMCO, UMR 7618, CNRS-INRA-ENS-Paris 6, Bâtiment EGER, Aile B, 78820 Thiverval-Grignon, France
Nadia Bdioui: INRA, UR 874 Agronomie, 234 Avenue du Brézet, 63100 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Bruno Mary: INRA, UR 1158 Agronomie, Rue Fernand Christ, 02007 Laon, France
Cornelia Rumpel: BIOEMCO, UMR 7618, CNRS-INRA-ENS-Paris 6, Bâtiment EGER, Aile B, 78820 Thiverval-Grignon, France

Nature, 2007, vol. 450, issue 7167, 277-280

Abstract: The fate of ancient carbon The world's soils store more carbon than is present in biomass and in the atmosphere. New experimental evidence suggests that the delivery of fresh plant-derived carbon to the subsoil stimulates microbial activity and results in mineralization of thousand-year-old carbon. This supports the recent proposal that the conservation of organic carbon at depth results from a lack of energy for decomposers. This large pool of deep carbon is unlikely to respond to future changes in temperature if no fresh carbon is supplied, limiting the predicted positive feedback between global warming and soil organic carbon decomposition. The results imply that management practices that increase the distribution of fresh carbon along the soil profile (such as deep ploughing and the use of drought-resistant crops with extensive root systems) will stimulate loss of this ancient buried carbon.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06275

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