Slaughter found that the soil in the warmed plots, as well as the plots that were managed for both higher temperatures and precipitation, contained more microbes year-round. | Photo Credit: University of Kentucky's College of Agriculture

During the one-year study, Lindsey Slaughter, a UK graduate student, studied an area of typical Central Kentucky cool-season pasture and took soil samples to see how the microbes would react to year-round temperatures that were warmer by 3 degrees Celsius and to a 30% increase in precipitation during the growing season. These figures are what scientists predict might occur in Kentucky as a result of climate change.

Slaughter found that the soil in the warmed plots, as well as the plots that were managed for both higher temperatures and precipitation, contained more microbes year-round. During the winter, these warmer microbes also consumed more carbon than normal, resulting in less available food for them to transform into nutrients for plants when they need it during the growing season.

“Areas that have less organic material are usually less productive,” she said. “Maintaining a healthy amount of soil carbon is really important to long-term soil productivity and health