Climate and Terrestrial Carbon

Terrestrial soils, vegetation, and landscapes store vast quantities of carbon, but their capacity to retain it depends on temperature, moisture, biology, and physical structure.

Long-running warming experiments at Harvard Forest show that microbes can eventually break down persistent soil carbon, while studies of Oregon landslides reveal that deep deposits may preserve more carbon than models have assumed. Evidence from future projections and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum also examines where carbon losses may be concentrated and how warming can reduce ecosystem function. Together, these findings inform estimates of climate–carbon feedbacks and the resilience of land-based carbon storage.