Soil microbial respiration adapts to higher and longer warming experiments at the global scale

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Warming can affect soil microbial respiration by changing microbial biomass and community composition. The responses of soil microbial respiration to warming under experimental conditions are also related to background conditions and the experimental setup, such as warming magnitude, duration, and methods. However, the global pattern of soil microbial respiration in response to warming and underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we conducted a global meta-analysis of the response of soil microbial respiration to warming by synthesizing data from 187 field experiments. We found that experimental warming significantly increased soil microbial respiration and microbial biomass carbon by 11.8% and 6.4%, respectively. The warming-induced increase in microbial carbon decomposition was positively correlated with increased microbial biomass carbon, but not community composition. Moreover, the positive response of soil microbial respiration marginally increased with warming magnitude, particularly in short-term experiments, but soil microbial respiration adapted to higher warming at longer timescales. Warming method did not significantly affect the response of microbial respiration, except for a significant effect with open top chamber warming. In addition, the impact of warming on soil microbial respiration was more pronounced in wetter sites and in sites with lower soil pH and higher soil organic carbon. Our findings suggest that warming stimulates microbial respiration mainly by increasing microbial biomass carbon. We also highlight the importance of the combination of warming magnitude and duration in regulating soil microbial respiration responses, and the dependence of warming effects upon background precipitation and soil conditions. These findings can advance our understanding of soil carbon losses and carbon-climate feedbacks in a warm world.