The hottest months. The snowiest winters. Catastrophic floods and droughts.
Climate change impacts lives across the world in drastic and unpredictable ways. This unpredictability also extends to the more subtle – yet still important – effects of climate change.
For example, it is uncertain how climate change will affect soils and their ability to support productive farms or healthy natural ecosystems.
The hottest months. The snowiest winters. Catastrophic floods and droughts.
Climate change impacts lives across the world in drastic and unpredictable ways. This unpredictability also extends to the more subtle – yet still important – effects of climate change.
For example, it is uncertain how climate change will affect soils and their ability to support productive farms or healthy natural ecosystems.
In a new study, researchers used digital techniques to predict how one vital soil characteristic, soil organic carbon, may be altered by climate change.
“Soil organic carbon is a major determinant of soil health,” says Jonathan Gray, lead author of the study. “It influences many chemical, physical, and biological properties of the soil, such as fertility and water holding capacity.” Gray is a senior scientist at New South Wales Office of Environment & Heritage in Australia and also undertaking doctoral studies at the University of Sydney.
Continue reading at American Society of Agronomy
Picture: Soil carbon is expected to decline over agricultural soils such as these in the New South Wales Central West.
Photo credit B. Murphy, Office of Environment and Heritage.
