One very unique and important climate change research facility is found in the
Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory (Temple, TX) of the US Department
of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. The LYCOG (LYsimeter Carbon
Oxide Gradient) facility accommodates a continuous carbon dioxide concentration
from 250 to 500 ppm, simulating the pre-Industrial Revolution to the near future
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Unlike discrete settings (e.g.,
ambient vs. elevated) provided by FACE-like facilities, findings from LYCOG
facility showed less obvious responses to carbon dioxide concentration gradient in
microbial diversity and community structure after 10 years of treatment. Again, these
are results suggestive of research at FACE-like facilities possibly overestimating the
effect of carbon dioxide concentration upon microbial responses to climate changes.
These are two examples of how microbial systems can be the desired model system
to study the impacts of climate change in more realistic experimental settings which
may provide unexpected results thus augment our understanding.
11.6 Conclusion
Microbes are ubiquitous on Earth as they are found in every single ecosystem and
have tremendous importance in all those ecosystems’ health through the high
abundance and versatile nature of the ecosystem functions that they provide.
These characteristics of microbes put them in a unique position in the issue of
climate change as contributors, victims, mitigators, and a model system for research.
Multidisciplinary and multiphasic approaches and studies of every possible aspect of
microbial activities associated with climate change are needed to properly address
this climate crisis.
Sanghoon Kang
11 Microbes’ Many Roles in Climate Change: Contribution, Consequence, Mitigation,. . . 193
Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory (Temple, TX) of the US Department
of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. The LYCOG (LYsimeter Carbon
Oxide Gradient) facility accommodates a continuous carbon dioxide concentration
from 250 to 500 ppm, simulating the pre-Industrial Revolution to the near future
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Unlike discrete settings (e.g.,
ambient vs. elevated) provided by FACE-like facilities, findings from LYCOG
facility showed less obvious responses to carbon dioxide concentration gradient in
microbial diversity and community structure after 10 years of treatment. Again, these
are results suggestive of research at FACE-like facilities possibly overestimating the
effect of carbon dioxide concentration upon microbial responses to climate changes.
These are two examples of how microbial systems can be the desired model system
to study the impacts of climate change in more realistic experimental settings which
may provide unexpected results thus augment our understanding.
11.6 Conclusion
Microbes are ubiquitous on Earth as they are found in every single ecosystem and
have tremendous importance in all those ecosystems’ health through the high
abundance and versatile nature of the ecosystem functions that they provide.
These characteristics of microbes put them in a unique position in the issue of
climate change as contributors, victims, mitigators, and a model system for research.
Multidisciplinary and multiphasic approaches and studies of every possible aspect of
microbial activities associated with climate change are needed to properly address
this climate crisis.
Sanghoon Kang
11 Microbes’ Many Roles in Climate Change: Contribution, Consequence, Mitigation,. . . 193