Tropical Forest Response to a Drier Future: Turnover Times of Soil Organic Matter, Roots, Respired CO₂, and CH₄ across Moisture Gradients in Time and Space

This DOE Early Career Research Program project addresses the potential response of tropical forests to climate change.

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

This project has an emphasis on below-ground carbon storage and cycling and uses radiocarbon to indicate how long carbon has resided in the soil. The project is also interested in the sources of carbon contributing to changes in the amount of carbon dioxide

carbon dioxide (CO2)

An important heat-trapping gas, also known as a greenhouse gas, that comes from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas), from wildfires, and natural processes like volcanic eruptions.

Source: NASA Source

and methane

methane

A hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas. Methane is also a greenhouse gas (GHG), so its presence in the atmosphere affects the earth’s temperature and climate system

Source: EPA Source

in the atmosphere.