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ToolsNaidu, Dilip G. T., Roy, Shamik and Bagchi, Sumanta (2022) Loss of grazing by large mammalian herbivores can destabilize the soil carbon pool. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (43). ISSN 0027-8424
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Abstract
Grazing by mammalian herbivores can be a climate mitigation strategy as it influences the size and stability of a large soil carbon (soil-C) pool (more than 500 Pg C in the world’s grasslands, steppes, and savannas). With continuing declines in the numbers of large mammalian herbivores, the resultant loss in grazer functions can be consequential for this soil-C pool and ultimately for the global carbon cycle. While herbivore effects on the size of the soil-C pool and the conditions under which they lead to gain or loss in soil-C are becoming increasingly clear, their effect on the equally important aspect of stability of soil-C remains unknown. We used a replicated long-term field experiment in the Trans-Himalayan grazing ecosystem to evaluate the consequences of herbivore exclusion on interannual fluctuations in soil-C (2006 to 2021). Interannual fluctuations in soil-C and soil-N were 30 to 40% higher after herbivore exclusion than under grazing. Structural equation modeling suggested that grazing appears to mediate the stabilizing versus destabilizing influences of nitrogen (N) on soil-C. This may explain why N addition stimulates soil-C loss in the absence of herbivores around the world. Herbivore loss, and the consequent decline in grazer functions, can therefore undermine the stability of soil-C. Soil-C is not inert but a very dynamic pool. It can provide nature-based climate solutions by conserving and restoring a functional role of large mammalian herbivores that extends to the stoichiometric coupling between soil-C and soil-N.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Data, Materials, and Software Availability: The data are available through the Zenodo repository (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7071575) (67), and the computer code is provided in SI Appendix. Funding Information: D.G.T.N. was supported by a graduate fellowship from the Divecha Centre for Climate Change; S.R. was supported by a graduate fellowship from Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-India; S.B. was supported by Ministry of Human Resource Development-India. This work was funded by Department of Science and Technology - Fund for Improvement of S&T infrastructure, Department of Science and Technology - Science and Engineering Research Board, Indian Institute of Science - Space Technology Cell, Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, and by Department of Biotechnology - Indian |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | biogeochemistry,carbon cycle,path analysis,phase-space analysis,stoichiometry |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Feb 2023 09:30 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Feb 2025 11:16 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/91074 |
| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2211317119 |
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