New Brunswick, N.J. (Sept. 6, 2018) – Rutgers Soil Scientist Daniel Giménez is available to provide insight on a study he co-authored on U.S. soils and climate change published online in Nature.
The study indicates that regional increases in precipitation as a result of climate change may lead to less water infiltration, more surface runoff and erosion and greater susceptibility to flash flooding.
For the study, scientists used a large database on soils collected over the last 50 years or so in the continental U.S. The goal was to search for climate change signatures in soil porosity. Large pores (macropores) in soil are important because they “capture” water from precipitation that plants and microorganisms can use. Larger amounts of water infiltrating into soil lead to smaller losses of soil through erosion, according to Giménez, study co-author and a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
“We found that the climate change signature on soil porosity is significant and can be detected even in soils that are frequently disturbed, implying that changes occur relatively quickly,” said Giménez, who works in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “We think it’s enough to influence the overall water cycle in the continental U.S. by altering the amount of water stored in the soil and related variables such as water that evaporates from soil, surface water and plants.”
Here’s a link to the study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0463-x
Giménez is available at [email protected]
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