Priming effect of plant roots boosts carbon emissions from thawing permafrost

A key uncertainty in climate projections is the amount of carbon emitted by thawing permafrost in the Arctic. Plant roots in soil stimulate microbial decomposition, a mechanism called the priming effect.

Thawing permaforst. Photo: Benjamin Jones via Wikimedia Commons

An international research team from Stockholm University, Umeå University and the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) shows that the priming effect alone can cause emission of 40 gigatons of carbon from thawing permafrost by 2100. The study was published in Nature Geoscience.

Read more in article on Department of Environmental Science web.

Last updated: July 27, 2020
Source: Communications Office

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