{"685973":{"#nid":"685973","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Peatlands\u2019 \u2018Huge Reservoir\u2019 of Carbon at Risk of Release","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story by Caitlin Hayes is shared jointly with the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2025\/10\/peatlands-huge-reservoir-carbon-risk-release\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECornell Chronicle newsroom\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EStudy co-author Joel E. Kostka is the Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor and associate chair for Research in the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/biosciences.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESchool of Biological Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E with a joint appointment in the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E. He also serves as faculty director of\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/new-center-science-georgias-tomorrow\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Tech for Georgia\u0027s Tomorrow\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sites.gatech.edu\/kostkalab\/peatlands-and-climate-change\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Kostka Lab\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;works in peatland ecosystems to quantify changes in microbial communities brought on by climate change drivers. In particular, next generation gene sequencing and omics approaches are employed to investigate the microbial groups that mediate organic matter degradation and the release of greenhouse gases.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeatlands make up just 3% of the earth\u2019s land surface but store more than 30% of the world\u2019s soil carbon, preserving organic matter and sequestering its carbon for tens of thousands of years. A new study sounds the alarm that an extreme drought event could quadruple peatland carbon loss in a warming climate.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the study, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.adv7104\u0022\u003Epublished October 23 in \u003Cem\u003EScience\u003C\/em\u003E,\u003C\/a\u003E researchers find that, under conditions that mimic a future climate (with warmer temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide), extreme drought dramatically increases the release of carbon in peatlands by nearly three times. This means that droughts in future climate conditions could turn a valuable carbon sink into a carbon source, erasing between 90 and 250 years of carbon stores in a matter of months.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAs temperatures increase, drought events become more frequent and severe,\u0026nbsp; making peatlands more vulnerable than before,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cals.cornell.edu\/people\/yiqi-luo\u0022\u003EYiqi Luo\u003C\/a\u003E, senior author and the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science\u2019s Soil and Crop Sciences Section, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) at\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cornell.edu\/\u0022\u003ECornell University\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cWe add new evidence to show that with peatlands, the stakes are high. We observed that these extreme drought events can wipe out hundreds of years of accumulated carbon, so this has a huge implication.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo me, this study is striking in that it shows that around 10 to 100 years of carbon uptake by one of the most important global soil carbon stores can be erased by just two months of extreme drought,\u201d adds \u003Cstrong\u003EJoel Kostka\u003C\/strong\u003E, Tom and Marie Patton Distinguished Professor in Biological Sciences at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt was already well-established that drought reduces ecosystem productivity and increases carbon release in peatlands, but this study is the first to examine how that carbon loss is exacerbated as the planet warms and more carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates extreme drought will become 1.7 to 7.2 times more likely in the near future.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ERead the full story in the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/news.cornell.edu\/stories\/2025\/10\/peatlands-huge-reservoir-carbon-risk-release\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECornell newsroom\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E###\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOther co-authors\u003C\/strong\u003E include Cornell postdoctoral researchers Jian Zhou and Ning Wei; senior research associate Lifen Jiang; and researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Florida State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), ETH Zurich, Northern Arizona University, the Australian National University, the University of Western Ontario and Duke University.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFunding\u003C\/strong\u003E for the study came in part from the National Science Foundation, USDA, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EPeatlands make up just 3% of the earth\u2019s land surface but store more than 30% of the world\u2019s soil carbon, preserving organic matter and sequestering its carbon for tens of thousands of years. A new study sounds the alarm that an extreme drought event could quadruple peatland carbon loss in a warming climate.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers analyzed data from 10, yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2025-10-24 14:03:13","changed_gmt":"2025-10-24 14:05:18","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-23T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-23T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678444":{"id":"678444","type":"image","title":"Yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota (provided).","body":null,"created":"1761314632","gmt_created":"2025-10-24 14:03:52","changed":"1761314632","gmt_changed":"2025-10-24 14:03:52","alt":"Yurt-like test chambers in a natural boreal spruce bog in northern Minnesota (provided).","file":{"fid":"262467","name":"1023_peatlands1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/24\/1023_peatlands1.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/24\/1023_peatlands1.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":374455,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/24\/1023_peatlands1.jpg?itok=9kQxCKho"}}},"media_ids":["678444"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1275","name":"School of Biological Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS)"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector of Communications\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003Cbr\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kms465@cornell.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKaitlyn Serrao\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr\u003ECornell University\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:natalia.burgess@anu.edu.au\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENatalia Burgess\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EMedia Assistant\u003Cbr\u003EANU Communications and Engagement\u003Cbr\u003EThe Australian National University\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}