Climate change cannot be entirely responsible for soil carbon loss observed in England and Wales, 1978-2003

Chapman, Stephen J. and Scott, W. Andy and Black, Helaina I.J. and Wattenbach, Martin and Milne, Ronnie and Campbell, Colin D. and Lilly, Allan and Ostle, Nick and Lumsdon, David G. and Millard, Pater and Towers, Willie and Zaehle, Sönke and Smith, Jo U. (2007) Climate change cannot be entirely responsible for soil carbon loss observed in England and Wales, 1978-2003. Global Change Biology, 13 (12). pp. 2605-2609. ISSN 1354-1013

Abstract

We present results from modelling studies, which suggest that, at most, only about 10-20% of recently observed soil carbon losses in England and Wales could possibly be attributable to climate warming. Further, we present reasons why the actual losses of SOC from organic soils in England and Wales might be lower than those reported.