Soil microorganisms in tropical forests play a key role in the ecosystem’s carbon cycle. However, scientists are concerned that these microorganisms may be adversely affected by increased global temperatures, causing uncertainty in global carbon cycle models.
The EU-funded project TROPICALCARBON (Tropical forest soil carbon storage and microbial diversity under climatic warming) directly addressed this uncertainty towards future temperature changes using different approaches. The aim was to determine how soil chemistry and biology (in the form of functional biodiversity) regulate soil carbon storage under climatic warming.
Further information: Impact of global warming on tropical forest soils