A 37-year soil experiment revealed a hidden climate threat

The world's longest-running soil warming experiment has revealed an unexpected climate concern. After nearly four decades, researchers found that warming can cause microbes to break down stable soil carbon that scientists once believed was largely protected. That releases extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, potentially accelerating global warming. Jerry Melillo, a Distinguished Scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory, has spent the past 37 years studying heated plots in the Harvard Forest in central Massachusetts. Throughout the experiment, researchers kept the soil at 5 °C above the sur... [1926 chars]