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Ecology

Prime time for microbes

As atmospheric CO2 increases, more plant litter is expected to enter the soil, stimulating turnover of organic matter and release of carbon. New field data show that this will intensify the terrestrial carbon cycle in the long term, and may counterbalance expected gains in carbon storage.

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Figure 1: The impact of increased above- and below-ground plant litter input on carbon cycling.

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Correspondence to Yakov Kuzyakov.

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Kuzyakov, Y. Prime time for microbes. Nature Clim Change 1, 295–297 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1194

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