Plants' Fungi Allies May Not Help Store Climate Change's Extra Carbon

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120830141345.htm


Fungi found in plants may not be the answer to mitigating climate change by storing additional carbon in soils as some previously thought. (Credit: © Alexandr / Fotolia)

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) — Fungi found in plants may not be the answer to mitigating climate change by storing additional carbon in soils as some previously thought, according to an international team of plant biologists.

The researchers found that increased carbon dioxide stimulates the growth of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) -- a type of fungus that is often found in the roots of most land plants -- which then leads to higher decomposition rates of organic materials, said Lei Cheng, post doctorate fellow in plant science, Penn State. This decomposition releases more carbon dioxide back into the air, which means that terrestrial ecosystems may have limited capacity to halt climate change by cleaning up excessive greenhouse gases, according to the researchers.

"Prior to our study, there have been few studies on whether elevated levels of carbon dioxide would stimulate organic carbon decomposition through AMF," said Cheng.

[appal_jack]

1. Interesting, but not the whole story.

This article states that plants and AMF will not automatically start storing more CO2 in soils, and that certainly seems true. However, the opportunity for us to shift our agriculture toward one which sequesters more carbon is wide-open. Using organic production techniques, frequent cover crop and green manure rotations, reduced tillage, mulching, and management-intensive / rotational grazing strategies, we could easily work with plants and animals to put millions of tons of CO2 back into soils. At my own farm, I have raised the organic matter of the soil by about a percentage point or two, which has transformed the soil from a pale reddish one, to a healthy, richer-smelling, darker black. It has also pulled somewhere between ten and twenty tons of carbon out of the atmosphere, and down into a market garden that is less than one acre in size.

I'm not saying I've got all the answers, but collectively I believe that we can heal the earth. All is not yet lost.

-app