Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70216 |
| Journal | Global change biology |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Publication status | Published - 2 May 2025 |
Abstract
Anthropogenic carbon emissions contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect, resulting in global warming and climate change. Thus, addressing this critical issue requires innovative and comprehensive solutions. Silicate weathering moderates atmospheric CO2 levels over geological time, but it occurs too slowly to counteract anthropogenic emissions effectively. Here, we show that the microorganism Bacillus subtilis strain MP1 promotes silicate weathering across different experimental setups with various levels of complexity. First, we found that MP1 was able to form a robust biofilm in the presence of feldspar and significantly increased (p < 0.05) silicate dissolution rates, pH, and calcium carbonate formation in culture experiments. Second, in mesocosm experiments, we found that MP1 enhanced the silicate weathering rate in soil by more than six times compared to the untreated control. In addition, soil inorganic carbon increased by 20%, and the concentrations of ions, including calcium, magnesium, and iron, were also elevated under the MP1 treatment. More importantly, when applied as a seed treatment on eight soybean fields, we found that MP1 significantly (p < 0.05) boosted soil inorganic carbon, leading to a gross accrual of 2.02 tonnes of inorganic carbon per hectare annually. Our findings highlight the potential of enhancing native silicate weathering with microorganisms in agricultural fields to increase soil inorganic carbon, contributing to climate change mitigation.
Keywords
- agriculture, carbon dioxide removal (CDR), carbonate precipitation, microbial soil treatment, microbially-mediated silicate weathering, native silicate minerals, soil inorganic carbon (SIC)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Global and Planetary Change
- Environmental Science(all)
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Science(all)
- Ecology
- Environmental Science(all)
- General Environmental Science
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Global change biology, Vol. 31, No. 5, e70216, 02.05.2025.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Harnessing Microbes to Weather Native Silicates in Agricultural Soils for Scalable Carbon Dioxide Removal
AU - Timmermann, Tania
AU - Yip, Christopher
AU - Yang, Yun Ya
AU - Wemmer, Kimberly A.
AU - Chowdhury, Anupam
AU - Dores, Daniel
AU - Takayama, Taichi
AU - Nademanee, Sharon
AU - Traag, Bjorn A.
AU - Zamanian, Kazem
AU - González, Bernardo
AU - Breecker, Daniel O.
AU - Fierer, Noah
AU - Slessarev, Eric W.
AU - Fuenzalida-Meriz, Gonzalo A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2025/5/2
Y1 - 2025/5/2
N2 - Anthropogenic carbon emissions contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect, resulting in global warming and climate change. Thus, addressing this critical issue requires innovative and comprehensive solutions. Silicate weathering moderates atmospheric CO2 levels over geological time, but it occurs too slowly to counteract anthropogenic emissions effectively. Here, we show that the microorganism Bacillus subtilis strain MP1 promotes silicate weathering across different experimental setups with various levels of complexity. First, we found that MP1 was able to form a robust biofilm in the presence of feldspar and significantly increased (p < 0.05) silicate dissolution rates, pH, and calcium carbonate formation in culture experiments. Second, in mesocosm experiments, we found that MP1 enhanced the silicate weathering rate in soil by more than six times compared to the untreated control. In addition, soil inorganic carbon increased by 20%, and the concentrations of ions, including calcium, magnesium, and iron, were also elevated under the MP1 treatment. More importantly, when applied as a seed treatment on eight soybean fields, we found that MP1 significantly (p < 0.05) boosted soil inorganic carbon, leading to a gross accrual of 2.02 tonnes of inorganic carbon per hectare annually. Our findings highlight the potential of enhancing native silicate weathering with microorganisms in agricultural fields to increase soil inorganic carbon, contributing to climate change mitigation.
AB - Anthropogenic carbon emissions contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect, resulting in global warming and climate change. Thus, addressing this critical issue requires innovative and comprehensive solutions. Silicate weathering moderates atmospheric CO2 levels over geological time, but it occurs too slowly to counteract anthropogenic emissions effectively. Here, we show that the microorganism Bacillus subtilis strain MP1 promotes silicate weathering across different experimental setups with various levels of complexity. First, we found that MP1 was able to form a robust biofilm in the presence of feldspar and significantly increased (p < 0.05) silicate dissolution rates, pH, and calcium carbonate formation in culture experiments. Second, in mesocosm experiments, we found that MP1 enhanced the silicate weathering rate in soil by more than six times compared to the untreated control. In addition, soil inorganic carbon increased by 20%, and the concentrations of ions, including calcium, magnesium, and iron, were also elevated under the MP1 treatment. More importantly, when applied as a seed treatment on eight soybean fields, we found that MP1 significantly (p < 0.05) boosted soil inorganic carbon, leading to a gross accrual of 2.02 tonnes of inorganic carbon per hectare annually. Our findings highlight the potential of enhancing native silicate weathering with microorganisms in agricultural fields to increase soil inorganic carbon, contributing to climate change mitigation.
KW - agriculture
KW - carbon dioxide removal (CDR)
KW - carbonate precipitation
KW - microbial soil treatment
KW - microbially-mediated silicate weathering
KW - native silicate minerals
KW - soil inorganic carbon (SIC)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105004182131&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/gcb.70216
DO - 10.1111/gcb.70216
M3 - Article
C2 - 40317991
AN - SCOPUS:105004182131
VL - 31
JO - Global change biology
JF - Global change biology
SN - 1354-1013
IS - 5
M1 - e70216
ER -