EARTH.COM - Forest soils are constantly talking – not in words but through quiet chemical exchanges between microbes, roots, and the air above them.
For years, scientists had assumed that warming temperatures would speed up this underground chatter and release more nitrogen gases into the atmosphere.
But long-term fieldwork is now revealing something different. Heat alone doesn’t control these reactions. Water scarcity, seasonal freeze-thaw cycles, and shifting microbial groups play far bigger roles than expected.
A new multi-year experiment shows just how surprising forest soil behavior can be when warming is studied in real landscapes instead of in lab jars.
Forest nitrogen in a warming world
Earlier forecasts suggested rising temperatures would accelerate forest nitrogen gas loss, robbing soils of nutrients vital for tree growth while contributing to atmospheric pollution.
This expectation was contradicted by a recent study from UC Riverside (UCR). The research was focused on a temperate forest in northeastern China and supported by more than 200,000 measurements.