Partially decomposed plant and animal remains have been accumulating in organic soils (i.e. >40% C content) for millennia, making them the largest terrestrial carbon store. There is growing concern that, in a warming world, soil biotic processing will accelerate and release greenhouse gases that further exacerbate climate change. However, the magnitude of this response remains uncertain as the constraints are abiotic, biotic a...

Three field manipulation experiments were carried out during 1993–1995 on the Northern Pennines to investigate the influences of temperature, solar radiation and rainfall on the release of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from vegetated soil cores using zero‐tension lysimeters. The cores were manipulated by being translocated to four sites down a climatic gradient, by artificial soil heating or being exposed to double normal rai...