Microbial respiration refers to the process in which microorganisms (tiny living creatures like bacteria) use oxygen to break down food and release energy they need to survive. It's similar to how we humans and other animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide to produce energy.
Full definition
Models with and without the extra self - heating
from microbial respiration have been shown to yield significantly different results.
The present paper presents a mathematical analysis of a tipping point or runaway feedback that can arise when the heat
from microbial respiration is generated more rapidly than it can escape from the soil to the atmosphere.
Estimates are that
microbial respiration will speed up as the soil warms, resulting in a net flux of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Estimates are that
microbial respiration will speed up as the soil warms, resulting in a net flux of CO2 to the atmosphere.
Responses are expressed through gross and net primary production,
microbial respiration, fire and insect disturbance, vegetation composition, species range expansion and contraction, surface energy balance and hydrology, active layer depth and permafrost thaw, and a range of other inter-related variables.
The warming treatment increased ground thaw by approximately 15 % compared to controls and caused an increase in carbon dioxide released from plant and
microbial respiration.
According to the paper, the results of the radiocarbon data confirm that
microbial respiration of «old» carbon (carbon prior to nuclear tests in the 40s and 50s) has the potential to emit a significant amount of carbon into the atmosphere.