Climate change reduces organic carbon in arid areas, study finds

The publication of these findings in 'Nature Climate Change' warns of possible repercussions of global warming and increasing aridity. These climate changes could cause an unexpected loss of carbon stored in arid soils on a global scale, generating higher CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere.

César Plaza, researcher and director of ICA CSIC and co-author of the study, warns that the protective capacity of soil minerals to preserve the carbon stored in these regions could be insufficient in the face of current global warming. This situation could result in an increase in CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere and the loss of essential ecosystem services that depend on organic carbon.

Soil minerals, which mostly contain carbon in arid areas, were expected to function as a protective shield for this carbon. However, the results of the study challenge this assumption, showing that even minerals cannot preserve carbon in these areas.

Until now, the response of mineral-linked organic carbon to climate change in arid areas had not been assessed, despite its relevance for long-term carbon storage, says Eduardo Moreno-Jiménez, professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and co-author of the study.

Fernando T. Maestre, professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, noted that the research studied organic carbon fractions in soil samples from arid ecosystems in a standardized manner, from all continents except Antarctica.

The team of researchers involved in this research comes from six CSIC centers, including the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville (IRNAS), the Experimental Station of Arid Zones (EEZA), the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), the Biological Mission of Galicia (MBG) and the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE).

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