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Climate plays a vital role in the carbon (C) uptake through vegetation productivity (Gross Primary Production; GPP) that is crucial to the persistence of the land as a carbon sink, thereby resulting in negative land-climate feedbacks. Large uncertainties persist in understanding the role of climate variability on this C flux, which influence future projections using Earth System Models (ESMs). One important source of uncertainty arises from the temporal variability in the carbon influx, and this includes effects of autocorrelation—i.e., similarity in observations with time-lag due to temporal structuring (“memory”) in the underlying dynamics. Evidence of the presence of memory in C uptake through GPP arises from field-based measurements through eddy covariance flux towers, but these lack widespread spatial distribution across environmental conditions and ecosystems. Therefore, estimating memory in the C cycle and its drivers on the global scale is important to our understanding of the global C cycle. For this, we used remotely sensed long-term GPP data from MODIS over the past two decades (2001-2021), to estimate long-term memory in C cycling through C-uptake by vegetation. Additionally, we also examined how the climate variables – temperature and precipitation- that are known to drive C influx, influenced the memory in C-uptake. We find that memory occurs in satellite-based estimates of GPP, corroborating field-based measurements. Interestingly, the memory in the C cycle was not limited to either short- or long-term but consisted of both these characteristics across different timescales. Climate variability through temperature and precipitation influenced memory and their effects are heterogeneous across ecosystems. With climate variability predicted to increase in the near future, our results suggest that these effects are likely to be consequential for the memory in C-uptake and, ultimately on the dynamics of the global C cycle. Therefore, estimating the memory in C cycle and its variation, is crucial for understanding as well as predicting the C-influx, under present and future climate change scenarios.

Grazing by mammalian herbivores can be a climate mitigation strategy as it influences the size and stability of a large soil carbon (soil-C) pool (more than 500 Pg C in the world’s grasslands, steppes, and savannas). With continuing declines in the numbers of large mammalian herbivores, the resultant loss in grazer functions can be consequential for this soil-C pool and ultimately for the global carbon cycle. While herbivore effects on the size of the soil-C pool and the conditions under which they lead to gain or loss in soil-C are becoming increasingly clear, their effect on the equally important aspect of stability of soil-C remains unknown. We used a replicated long-term field experiment in the Trans-Himalayan grazing ecosystem to evaluate the consequences of herbivore exclusion on interannual fluctuations in soil-C (2006 to 2021). Interannual fluctuations in soil-C and soil-N were 30 to 40% higher after herbivore exclusion than under grazing. Structural equation modeling suggested that grazing appears to mediate the stabilizing versus destabilizing influences of nitrogen (N) on soil-C. This may explain why N addition stimulates soil-C loss in the absence of herbivores around the world. Herbivore loss, and the consequent decline in grazer functions, can therefore undermine the stability of soil-C. Soil-C is not inert but a very dynamic pool. It can provide nature-based climate solutions by conserving and restoring a functional role of large mammalian herbivores that extends to the stoichiometric coupling between soil-C and soil-N.

SummaryDiversity-function relationships are well known for producers, and these are also known to be influenced by consumers at higher trophic levels. However, these are not well known for microbial decomposers and decomposition processes in soil. Further, it also remains unknown whether and how consumers such as large mammalian herbivores, who are a major feature across more than one-third of the world’s terrestrial realm, influence soil microbial decomposer diversity-function relationships.We used a14-year old long-term herbivore-exclusion experiment to answer two questions: (a) whether microbial functions vary with microbial diversity (both species richness and composition), and (b) whether herbivores alter the diversity-function relationships among microbial decomposers. We measured functional richness, and functional dispersion from the utilization profiles of 30 metabolic substrates. Alongside, we also measured species richness and species composition of soil microbes.We analysed soils from n=10 paired grazed-and-fenced plots, and sampled them three times during the growth season of 2019. Data were from 60 16S rDNA gene amplicon sequences with 7.6 million reads covering 1937 operational taxonomic units (OTU) across 47 phyla (of which 924 OTUs were identifiable to genus level), and 1800 catabolic profiles.Functional diversity in soil was positively related to microbial community composition, but not to species richness. This parallels the diversity-function relationships between producers and production; it also challenges the prevailing notion of functional redundancy in hyper-diverse soil microbial communities. Since certain combinations of species can outperform others, global change factors which can alter microbial communities may also impact decomposition processes and services. But this coupling between diversity and functions was unaffected by experimental herbivore-exclusion, indicating resilience and resistance among decomposers.Structural equation models suggested that the strength of this relationship is favoured by availability of soil moisture. These also showed microbial functions varied more strongly with temporal variables (e.g., seasonality) than with spatial variables (e.g., edaphic factors such as soil texture and pH). Although interpretations can be constrained by which and how many functions are investigated, the relationship between diversity and functions was generalizable and robust once 16 or more functions were quantified.While ecosystem functions and services derived from microbial decomposers have intrinsic resilience and resistance, they respond strongly to variability in water availability. Decomposition in grazing ecosystems may be particularly susceptible to how microbial community composition responds to rising precipitation variability under ongoing and projected climate change.HighlightsDiversity-function relationships for microbial decomposers remain uncertain.Microbial diversity is positively related to functionsThis relationship is robust to herbivore-exclusion.Microbial diversity-function relationship can be susceptible to altered precipitation

SummaryEutrophication impacts grassland diversity such as species richness, functional trait diversity and composition, but whether and how these changes affect ecosystem functional stability under increasing climate extremes is unknown. We quantify the direct and diversity-mediated effects of nutrient addition on functional stability of productivity as measured by resistance during and recovery after dry and wet growing seasons, and temporal invariability across 19 grasslands spanning four continents. We use leaf traits measured in the field to construct slow-fast leaf economic spectrum and calculate functional trait composition and diversity of the slow-fast trait. Nutrient addition increased resistance during dry growing seasons mainly through its direct effects. It also increased resistance during wet growing seasons directly, but these positive effects were weakened by indirect negative effects through reducing slow-fast functional diversity. Nutrient addition had weak effects on recovery after dry growing seasons, but it decreased recovery after wet growing seasons mainly through its direct effects. Nutrient addition increased temporal invariability through resistance, but decreased it through recovery and reducing species richness, leading to overall weak net effects. Thus, processes and influencing pathways independent of plant diversity should be carefully taken into account in understanding ecosystem stability in response to increasing global changes.

Grazing is the dominant land use across the world, and large mammalian herbivores exert strong influence over biogeochemical cycles. Grazing ecosystems feature C-rich soils, even though herbivores consume a major fraction of plant production to reduce detrital input to soil. Yet, counter-intuitively, moderate grazing can promote net soil-C storage in many ecosystems compared to grazer-exclusion. We address this enigmatic influence of grazers on soil-C and test their indirect effect on proximate drivers of decomposition: microbial extracellular enzyme activity. We used a replicated long-term grazer-exclusion experiment to measure responses in above- and belowground plant biomass, soil-C stock, microbial biomass, labile/recalcitrant C pools and three enzymes relevant to the C-cycle: peroxidase—which initiates decomposition of recalcitrant matter, alongside beta-glucosidase and cellobiohydrolase—which act further downstream on more labile fractions. Consistent with other ecosystems, upto 12 years of herbivore exclusion did not increase soil-C in the fenced plots despite higher plant biomass and higher potential detrital C-inputs. Grazer-exclusion did not alter microbial biomass; peroxidase increased threefold and beta-glucosidase was doubled; cellobiohydrolase was unaffected. Grazer-exclusion also led to twofold increase in recalcitrant-C and in microbial respiration, but it did not influence labile-C. Structural equation models supported the hypothesis that grazing favours soil-C via its indirect effect on peroxidase, but they did not support that the effects can run in the opposite direction where soil-C affects enzymes. Grazer-mediated shifts in how microbes deploy enzymes emerge as a plausible mechanism that affects soil-C. These linkages may be important to maintain soil-C sequestration in drylands which support large mammalian herbivores.

Grazing by mammalian herbivores can serve as a climate mitigation strategy as it influences the size and stability of a large soil-C pool (more than 200 Pg C in the world’s grasslands, steppes, and savannas). With the continuing decline in large mammalian herbivores, the resultant loss in grazer functions can be consequential for this soil-C pool, and ultimately for the global carbon cycle. While herbivore effects on the size of the soil-C pool and conditions under which they lead to gains/loss in soil-C are well known, their effects on the equally important aspect of stability of soil-C remain unknown. Also unknown is whether herbivore effects on soil-C and soil-N are related to each other. We use a replicated long-term grazer-exclusion experiment in the Trans-Himalayan ecosystem of northern India to evaluate the consequences of herbivore-loss on the stability of soil-C by quantifying interannual fluctuations (2006-2021). We test how grazers influence the stability of soil-C due to their impacts on both soil-C and soil-N. We find that experimental herbivore-exclusion raises inter-annual fluctuations in both soil-C and soil-N. Importantly, structural equations modelling show that herbivore-exclusion increases the soil-C and soil-N coupling, and weakens the stabilizing effect of soil-N on soil-C. Herbivore-loss, and consequent decline in grazer functions in soil, can therefore undermine the stability of soil-C. Conserving and restoring the functional role of large mammalian herbivores is critical for this valuable ecological service and towards climate mitigation.

Grazing by large mammalian herbivores impacts climate as it can favor the size and stability of a large carbon (C) pool in soil. As native herbivores in the world’s grasslands, steppes, and savannas are progressively being displaced by livestock, it is important to ask whether livestock can emulate the functional roles of their native counterparts. While livestock and native herbivores can have remarkable similarity in their traits, they can differ greatly in their impacts on vegetation composition which can affect soil-C. It is uncertain how their similarities and differences impact soil-C via their influence on microbial decomposers. We test competing alternative hypotheses with a replicated, long-term, landscape-level, grazing-exclusion experiment to ask whether livestock in the Trans-Himalayan ecosystem of northern India can match decadal-scale (2005-2016) soil-C stocks under native herbivores. We evaluate multiple lines of evidence from 17 variables that influence soil-C (quantity and quality of C-input from plants, microbial biomass and metabolism, microbial community composition, veterinary antibiotics in soil), and asses their inter-relationships. Livestock and native herbivores differed in their effects on several soil microbial processes. Microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) was 19% lower in soils under livestock. Compared to native herbivores, areas used by livestock contained 1.5 kg C m−2less soil-C. Structural equation models showed that alongside effects arising from plants, livestock alter soil microbial communities which is detrimental for CUE, and ultimately also for soil-C. Supporting evidence pointed toward a link between veterinary antibiotics used on livestock, microbial communities, and soil-C. Overcoming the challenges of sequestrating antibiotics to minimize their potential impacts on climate, alongside microbial rewilding under livestock, may reconcile the conflicting demands from food-security and ecosystem services. Conservation of native herbivores and better management of livestock is crucial for soil-C stewardship to envision and achieve natural climate solutions.