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MBL Distinguished Scientist Jerry Melillo is a co-author of , which is based on two long-term research studies sited at : a project Melillo begun in 1991 on soil warming in forest ecosystems, and a study  began in 2006 on soil microbes and warming.

AMHERST, Mass. �������ד The largest terrestrial carbon sink on Earth is the planet�������יs soil. One of the big fears is that a warming planet will liberate significant portions of the soil�������יs carbon, turning it into carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas, and so further accelerate the pace of planetary warming. , the predominant form of life on Earth, and which can either turn organic carbon�������הthe fallen leaves, rotting tree stumps, dead roots and other organic matter�������הinto soil, or release it into the atmosphere as CO₂. Now, an international team of researchers led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst has helped to untangle one of the knottiest questions involving soil microbes and climate change: what effect does a warming planet have on the microbes�������י carbon cycling?

The answer is surprising: increased temperature decreases the rate at which soil microbes respire CO₂�������הbut only in the summer. During the rest of the year, microbial activity remains largely historically consistent.

But there�������יs a catch to this seemingly happy story.

Soil microbes are releasing less CO₂ in the summer because they�������יre starving. And they�������יre starving because long-term warming is threatening the viability of deciduous trees, on whose dead leaves the microbes depend.