Climate change, soil water balance and risks to soil microbiological function. Deliverable D2.2b for the Project D5-2 Climate Change Impacts on Natural Capital

The purpose of this report is to present the findings from a workshop focussed on climate change impacts on soil water and microbiological function. Participants were researchers with expertise in soils, soil microbiology, water and greenhouse gas emissions from the James Hutton Institute. The broad context is to build an understanding of what projected climatic changes may mean for Natural Capital in Scotland. This report is a Deliverable for the Strategic Research Programme project ‘Climate Change Impacts on Natural Capital’ (JHI-D5-2).

The aim is to help develop our understanding of how climate change will likely impact Scottish soils in terms of relationships between the key climatic drivers of precipitation and temperature and their effect on soil properties, particularly the microbiota and consequences on soil functions.