Modeling Interactions in Soil Systems
Dr. Bernhard Ahrens
Mission
The Modelling Interactions in Soil Systems (MISS) project group concentrates on understanding the dynamics and feedbacks in soil organic carbon (SOC) formation and decomposition. The group emphasizes the role of mineral-associated organic carbon (MOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) under changing environmental conditions. Employing a combination of advanced process-based models and machine learning techniques, we aim to enhance our understanding of soil carbon cycling and its implications for global carbon storage and climate change.
Methodological and Conceptual Approaches
- Process-based modeling with the COMISSION model: Utilizing the COMISSION model to investigate soil carbon processes and their responses to environmental changes.
- Developing hybrid modeling approaches integrating data-driven and process-based models such as COMISSION to study soil organic carbon dynamics and microbial interactions.
Overarching Research Objectives
- Investigating the controls on SOC formation and decomposition, focusing on factors such as oxygen supply and soil moisture, temperature, sorption capacity and mineralogy.
- Understanding the role of microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) for global soil carbon storage and its effects on SOC formation and decomposition.
- Analyzing the feedback mechanisms between SOC and soil structure
- Assessing the impact of nitrogen demand for MOC formation on N2O emissions and soil aeration.
- Evaluating trade-offs in CO2 and CH4 emissions in POC-dominated systems during different meteorological boundary conditions.
© C. Philipp/BGC
Associated group members
© C. Philipp/BGC
Former group members
© Martijn Pallandt
Journal Article (31)
1.
Journal Article
Feng Tao, Benjamin Z Houlton, Yuanyuan Huang, Ying-Ping Wang, Stefano Manzoni, Bernhard Ahrens, Umakant Mishra, Lifen Jiang, Xiaomeng Huang, and Yiqi Luo, "Convergence in simulating global soil organic carbon by structurally different models after data assimilation," Global Change Biology 30 (5), e17297 (2024).
2.
Journal Article
Thomas Wutzler, Christian Reimers, Bernhard Ahrens, and Marion Schrumpf, "Optimal enzyme allocation leads to the constrained enzyme hypothesis: the Soil Enzyme Steady Allocation Model (SESAM; v3.1))," Geoscientific Model Development 17 (7), 2705-2725 (2024).
3.
Journal Article
Feng Tao, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Serita D. Frey, Johannes Lehmann, Stefano Manzoni, Yuanyuan Huang, Lifen Jiang, Umakant Mishra, Bruce A. Hungate, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Markus Reichstein, Nuno Carvalhais, Philippe Ciais, Ying-Ping Wang, Bernhard Ahrens, Gustaf Hugelius, Toby D. Hocking, Xingjie Lu, Zheng Shi, Kostiantyn Viatkin, Ronald Vargas, Yusuf Yigini, Christian Omuto, Ashish A. Malik, Guillermo Peralta, Rosa Cuevas-Corona, Luciano E. Di Paolo, Isabel Luotto, Cuijuan Liao, Yi-Shuang Liang, Vinisa S. Saynes, Xiaomeng Huang, and Yiqi Luo, "Reply to: Model uncertainty obscures major driver of soil carbon," Nature 627, E4-E6 (2024).
4.
Journal Article
Carlos Sierra, Bernhard Ahrens, Martin A. Bolinder, Maarten C. Braakhekke, Sophie F. von Fromm, Thomas Kätterer, Zhongkui Luo, Nargish Parvin, and Guocheng Wang, "Carbon sequestration in the subsoil and the time required to stabilize carbon for climate change mitigation," Global Change Biology 30 (1), e17153 (2024).
5.
Journal Article
Feng Tao, Feng, Yuanyuan Huang, Bruce A. Hungate, Stefano Manzoni, Serita D. Frey, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Markus Reichstein, Nuno Carvalhais, Philippe Ciais, Lifen Jiang, Johannes Lehmann, Ying-Ping Wang, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Bernhard Ahrens, Umakant Mishra, Gustaf Hugelius, Toby D. Hocking, Xingjie Lu, Zheng Shi, Kostiantyn Viatkin, Ronald Vargas, Yusuf Yigini, Christian Omuto, Ashish A. Malik, Guillermo Peralta, Rosa Cuevas-Corona, Luciano E. Di Paolo, Isabel Luotto, Cuijuan Liao, Yi-Shuang Liang, Vinisa S. Saynes, Xiaomeng Huang, and Yiqi Luo, "Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage," Nature 618, 981-985 (2023).
6.
Journal Article
Feng Tao, Johannes Lehmann, Ying-Ping Wang, Lifen Jiang, Bernhard Ahrens, Kostiantyn Viatkin, Stefano Manzoni, Benjamin Z. Houlton, Yuanyuan Huang, Xiaomeng Huang, and Yiqi Luo, "Reply to “Beyond microbial carbon use efficiency," National Science Review 11 (14), nwae058 (2023).
7.
Journal Article
Eva-Marie Metz, Sanam N. Vardag, Sourish Basu, Martin Jung, Bernhard Ahrens, Tarek S. El-Madany, Stephen Sitch, Vivek K. Arora, Peter R. Briggs, Pierre Friedlingstein, Daniel S. Goll, Atul K. Jain, Etsushi Kato, Danica Lombardozzi, Julia E. M. S. Nabel, Benjamin Poulter, Roland Séférian, Hanqin Tian, Andrew Wiltshire, Wenping Yuan, Xu Yue, Sönke Zaehle, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, and André Butz, "Soil respiration–driven CO2 pulses dominate Australia’s flux variability," Science 379, 1332-1335 (2023).
8.
Journal Article
Lin Yu, Silvia Caldararu, Bernhard Ahrens, Thomas Wutzler, Marion Schrumpf, Julian Helfenstein, Chiara Pistocchi, and Sönke Zaehle, "Improved representation of phosphorus exchange on soil mineral surfaces reduces estimates of phosphorus limitation in temperate forest ecosystems," Biogeosciences 20 (1), 57-73 (2023).
9.
Journal Article
Steve Kwatcho Kengdo, Bernhard Ahrens, Ye Tian, Jakob Heinzle, Wolfgang Wanek, Andreas Schindlbacher, and Werner Borken, "Increase in carbon input by enhanced fine root turnover in a long-term warmed forest soil," Science of the Total Environment 855, 158800 (2023).
10.
Journal Article
Naixin Fan, Markus Reichstein, Sujan Koirala, Bernhard Ahrens, Miguel D. Mahecha , and Nuno Carvalhais, "Global apparent temperature sensitivity of terrestrial carbon turnover modulated by hydrometeorological factors," Nature Geoscience 15, 989-994 (2022).