Modeling boreal forest soil dynamics with the microbially explicit soil model MIMICS+ (v1.0)

Aas, Elin Ristorp; de Wit, Heleen A.; K. Berntsen, Terje

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2929-2024

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2929-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-2929-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

Model description paper

|

16 Apr 2024

Model description paper |

| 16 Apr 2024

Modeling boreal forest soil dynamics with the microbially explicit soil model MIMICS+ (v1.0)

Elin Ristorp Aas, Heleen A. de Wit, and Terje K. Berntsen

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Final revised paper (published on 16 Apr 2024)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 05 Oct 2023)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2023-2069', Anonymous Referee #1, 22 Oct 2023

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2023-2069/egusphere-2023-2069-RC1-supplement.pdf

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2069-RC1
- AC2: 'Reply on RC1', Elin Ristorp Aas, 22 Dec 2023
  
  Dear reviewer,
  thank your for your constructive comments and taking the time to review our manuscript. It is highly appreciated. Attached is a pdf with our response (in red, italic text) to your comments (in black text).
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2069-AC2
RC2:
'Comment on egusphere-2023-2069', Anonymous Referee #2, 18 Nov 2023

The proposed soil carbon-nitrogen model could be an interesting addition to the modeling community. However, there are certain aspects that require improvement.
Introduction
Please describe the potential mechanisms/processes involved with EcM and AM based on previous research;
Please describe the potential improvements over the models in Sulman et al. (2019) and Baskaran et al. (2017) and distinguish your study with other similar ones.
Methods
Sensitivity analysis of parameters to modeled soil carbon is routine for model development and therefore is necessary here.
Line 103: describe in full C11, C12, N11, N12.
Lines 162-164: add details about how EcM produces enzymes and the mining algorithm (since it is the import part of this study); is there carbon cost for modeled nitrogen mining?
Lines 180-184: do they occur at the same time or sequentially? Please clarify. This is very important for nutrient competition.
Lines 195-201: please describe here how the parameters change with depth, in particularly the ones associated with EcM and AM.
Lines 214-216: cannot follow this sentence. Please elaborate.
Results
The poor simulation results in terms of soil carbon (site level one to one), and CN ratio is concerning. Please justify.
Please show seasonal variation of microbial respiration for model quality judgment. It can be shown in appendix though.
In the main text please show site-to-site correlation in addition to the boxplot. It is more informative.

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2069-RC2
- AC1: 'Reply on RC2', Elin Ristorp Aas, 22 Dec 2023
  
  Dear reviewer,
  
  Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript, we highly appreciate your constructive feedback.
  
  Attached is a PDF with our response (in red, italic) to your comments (in black).
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2069-AC1

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload

AR by Elin Ristorp Aas on behalf of the Authors (02 Feb 2024) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (23 Feb 2024) by Sam Rabin

AR by Elin Ristorp Aas on behalf of the Authors (27 Feb 2024) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (28 Feb 2024) by Sam Rabin

AR by Elin Ristorp Aas on behalf of the Authors (29 Feb 2024)

Post-review adjustments

AA: Author's adjustment | EA: Editor approval

AA by Elin Ristorp Aas on behalf of the Authors (10 Apr 2024) Author's adjustment Manuscript

EA: Adjustments approved (12 Apr 2024) by Sam Rabin

Short summary

By including microbial processes in soil models, we learn how the soil system interacts with its environment and responds to climate change. We present a soil process model, MIMICS+, which is able to reproduce carbon stocks found in boreal forest soils better than a conventional land model. With the model we also find that when adding nitrogen, the relationship between soil microbes changes notably. Coupling the model to a vegetation model will allow for further study of these mechanisms.