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By Alice McFarlane

Climate Change

Using soil to combat climate change

Sep 18, 2019 | 5:17 PM

Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan is part of a study that will look at the the impact of climate change on more than three trillion metric tonnes of soil carbon around the world.

Scientists from across the United States investigated the plant roots that control long-term storage of carbon in deep soil.

The University of Massachusetts Stockbridge School of Agriculture biogeochemist Dr. Marco Keiluweit said their findings will have ramifications for global industries like agriculture that promoted the benefits of carbon sequestration as their contribution to fighting climate change.

“The significance of our work is we not only show that plants are conduits of carbon into the soil, but the roots also regulate how much carbon the deep soil can store or lose,” Keiluweit said in a news release. “Although root-derived organic compounds such as decaying roots, plant stems and trunks are recognized as an important source of soil carbon, the role of roots as a weathering agent that breaks down rocks and primary minerals has been overlooked.”

Keiluweit said climate change influences how plants interact with soil with the increased concentration of carbon dioxide leading to faster plant growth and producing more root growth and root biomass.

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“What we are showing here is that roots influence the formation of helpful mineral-organic associations by providing some of the minerals that can engage with organic matter, but then at the same time can destroy or disrupt some of these protective associations in later years,” Keiluweit said. “The role of the CLS in the project was critically important. CLS enabled us to identify both the nature of organic matter and the nature of minerals and their physical arrangement together in mineral-organic associations.”

Keiluweit is hopeful their study will help the agriculture sector to consider what crops and soil will be best for combatting climate change.

“Periodic droughts impact agriculture systems and a lot of effort goes into developing and planting crops that are deeper rooting to access water. Deeper roots are better for yields but it may release carbon that has been protected at depth,” Keiluweit said. “On the flip side, our findings can also identify soils with potential for increased carbon storage at depth. Then you can have crops that not only extract water but also help deep storage of carbon.”

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF