Climate warming from managed grasslands cancels the cooling effect of carbon sinks in sparsely grazed and natural grasslands.

ABSTRACT: Grasslands absorb and release carbon dioxide (CO₂), emit methane (CH₄) from grazing livestock, and emit nitrous oxide (N₂O) from soils. Little is known about how the fluxes of these three greenhouse gases, from managed and natural grasslands worldwide, have contributed to past climate change, or the roles of managed pastures versus natural grasslands. Here, global trends and regional patterns of the full greenhouse gas balance of grasslands are estimated for the period 1750 to 2012. A new spatially explicit land surface model is applied, to separate the direct effects of human activities from land management and the indirect effects from climate change, increasing CO₂ and regional changes in nitrogen deposition. Direct human management activities

SUBMITTER: Chang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7785734 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature