Contribution of soil algae to the global carbon cycle

Vincent E.J. Jassey; Romain Walcker; Paul Kardol; Stefan Geisen; Thierry Heger; Mariusz Lamentowicz; Samuel Hamard; Enrique Lara

doi:10.1111/nph.17950

Contribution of soil algae to the global carbon cycle

Vincent E.J. Jassey^* (Corresponding author), Romain Walcker, Paul Kardol, Stefan Geisen, Thierry Heger, Mariusz Lamentowicz, Samuel Hamard, Enrique Lara

^*Corresponding author for this work

NIOO - Terrestrial Ecology (TE)

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodical › Article › Scientific › peer-review

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Abstract

Soil photoautotrophic prokaryotes and micro-eukaryotes – known as soil algae – are, together with heterotrophic microorganisms, a constitutive part of the microbiome in surface soils. Similar to plants, they fix atmospheric carbon (C) through photosynthesis for their own growth, yet their contribution to global and regional biogeochemical C cycling still remains quantitatively elusive. Here, we compiled an extensive dataset on soil algae to generate a better understanding of their distribution across biomes and predict their productivity at a global scale by means of machine learning modelling. We found that, on average, (5.5 ± 3.4) × 10⁶ algae inhabit each gram of surface soil. Soil algal abundance especially peaked in acidic, moist and vegetated soils. We estimate that, globally, soil algae take up around 3.6 Pg C per year, which corresponds to c. 6% of the net primary production of terrestrial vegetation. We demonstrate that the C fixed by soil algae is crucial to the global C cycle and should be integrated into land-based efforts to mitigate C emissions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	64-76
Number of pages	13
Journal	New Phytologist
Volume	234
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17950
Publication status	Published - 2022

Keywords

biogeography
microbial photosynthesis
net primary productivity (NPP)
photoautotrophs
soil carbon (C) cycle
soil microbiome
international
Plan_S-Compliant_NO

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title = "Contribution of soil algae to the global carbon cycle",

abstract = "Soil photoautotrophic prokaryotes and micro-eukaryotes – known as soil algae – are, together with heterotrophic microorganisms, a constitutive part of the microbiome in surface soils. Similar to plants, they fix atmospheric carbon (C) through photosynthesis for their own growth, yet their contribution to global and regional biogeochemical C cycling still remains quantitatively elusive. Here, we compiled an extensive dataset on soil algae to generate a better understanding of their distribution across biomes and predict their productivity at a global scale by means of machine learning modelling. We found that, on average, (5.5 ± 3.4) × 106 algae inhabit each gram of surface soil. Soil algal abundance especially peaked in acidic, moist and vegetated soils. We estimate that, globally, soil algae take up around 3.6 Pg C per year, which corresponds to c. 6% of the net primary production of terrestrial vegetation. We demonstrate that the C fixed by soil algae is crucial to the global C cycle and should be integrated into land-based efforts to mitigate C emissions.",

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author = "Jassey, {Vincent E.J.} and Romain Walcker and Paul Kardol and Stefan Geisen and Thierry Heger and Mariusz Lamentowicz and Samuel Hamard and Enrique Lara",

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year = "2022",

doi = "10.1111/nph.17950",

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T1 - Contribution of soil algae to the global carbon cycle

AU - Jassey, Vincent E.J.

AU - Walcker, Romain

AU - Kardol, Paul

AU - Geisen, Stefan

AU - Heger, Thierry

AU - Lamentowicz, Mariusz

AU - Hamard, Samuel

AU - Lara, Enrique

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Soil photoautotrophic prokaryotes and micro-eukaryotes – known as soil algae – are, together with heterotrophic microorganisms, a constitutive part of the microbiome in surface soils. Similar to plants, they fix atmospheric carbon (C) through photosynthesis for their own growth, yet their contribution to global and regional biogeochemical C cycling still remains quantitatively elusive. Here, we compiled an extensive dataset on soil algae to generate a better understanding of their distribution across biomes and predict their productivity at a global scale by means of machine learning modelling. We found that, on average, (5.5 ± 3.4) × 106 algae inhabit each gram of surface soil. Soil algal abundance especially peaked in acidic, moist and vegetated soils. We estimate that, globally, soil algae take up around 3.6 Pg C per year, which corresponds to c. 6% of the net primary production of terrestrial vegetation. We demonstrate that the C fixed by soil algae is crucial to the global C cycle and should be integrated into land-based efforts to mitigate C emissions.

AB - Soil photoautotrophic prokaryotes and micro-eukaryotes – known as soil algae – are, together with heterotrophic microorganisms, a constitutive part of the microbiome in surface soils. Similar to plants, they fix atmospheric carbon (C) through photosynthesis for their own growth, yet their contribution to global and regional biogeochemical C cycling still remains quantitatively elusive. Here, we compiled an extensive dataset on soil algae to generate a better understanding of their distribution across biomes and predict their productivity at a global scale by means of machine learning modelling. We found that, on average, (5.5 ± 3.4) × 106 algae inhabit each gram of surface soil. Soil algal abundance especially peaked in acidic, moist and vegetated soils. We estimate that, globally, soil algae take up around 3.6 Pg C per year, which corresponds to c. 6% of the net primary production of terrestrial vegetation. We demonstrate that the C fixed by soil algae is crucial to the global C cycle and should be integrated into land-based efforts to mitigate C emissions.

KW - biogeography

KW - microbial photosynthesis

KW - net primary productivity (NPP)

KW - photoautotrophs

KW - soil carbon (C) cycle

KW - soil microbiome

KW - international

KW - Plan_S-Compliant_NO

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DO - 10.1111/nph.17950

M3 - Article

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SN - 0028-646X

VL - 234

SP - 64

EP - 76

JO - New Phytologist

JF - New Phytologist

IS - 1

ER -

Contribution of soil algae to the global carbon cycle

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Keywords

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