Protection of Permafrost Soils from Thawing by Increasing Herbivore Density.

ABSTRACT: Climate change will cause a substantial future greenhouse gas release from warming and thawing permafrost-affected soils to the atmosphere enabling a positive feedback mechanism. Increasing the population density of big herbivores in northern high-latitude ecosystems will increase snow density and hence decrease the insulation strength of snow during winter. As a consequence, theoretically 80% of current permafrost-affected soils (<10 m) is projected to remain until 2100 even when assuming a strong warming using the Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5. Importantly, permafrost temperature is estimated to remain below -4 °C on average after increasing herbivore population density. Such ecosystem management practices would be therefore theoretically an important additional climate change

SUBMITTER: Beer C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7078274 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature