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Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Temperature Response of Soil Organic Matter Decomposition Rates: Construction and Applications of a Temperature Gradient Block
Published on: January 30, 2026
The whole-soil carbon flux in response to warming
Caitlin E Hicks Pries1, C Castanha2, R C Porras2
1Climate Sciences Department, Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. cehpries@lbl.gov mstorn@lbl.gov.
Abstract:
Soil organic carbon harbors three times as much carbon as Earth's atmosphere, and its decomposition is a potentially large climate change feedback and major source of uncertainty in climate projections. The response of whole-soil profiles to warming has not been tested in situ. In a deep warming experiment in mineral soil, we found that CO2 production from all soil depths increased with 4°C warming; annual soil respiration increased by 34 to 37%. All depths responded to warming with similar temperature sensitivities, driven by decomposition of decadal-aged carbon. Whole-soil warming reveals a larger soil respiration response than many in situ experiments (most of which only warm the surface soil) and models.
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