Increasing numbers of global change stressors reduce soil carbon worldwide

Tadeo Sáez-Sandino (), Fernando T. Maestre, Miguel Berdugo, Antonio Gallardo, César Plaza, Pablo García-Palacios, Emilio Guirado, Guiyao Zhou, Carsten W. Mueller, Leho Tedersoo, T. W. Crowther and Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo ()
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Tadeo Sáez-Sandino: Universidad Pablo de Olavide
Fernando T. Maestre: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Miguel Berdugo: Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Antonio Gallardo: Universidad Pablo de Olavide
César Plaza: CSIC
Pablo García-Palacios: CSIC
Emilio Guirado: Universidad de Alicante
Guiyao Zhou: CSIC
Carsten W. Mueller: Technische Universität Berlin
Leho Tedersoo: University of Tartu
T. W. Crowther: ETH Zürich
Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo: CSIC

Nature Climate Change, 2024, vol. 14, issue 7, 740-745

Abstract: Abstract Soils support a vast amount of carbon (C) that is vulnerable to climatic and anthropogenic global change stressors (for example, drought and human-induced nitrogen deposition). However, the simultaneous effects of an increasing number of global change stressors on soil C storage and persistence across ecosystems are virtually unknown. Here, using 1,880 surface soil samples from 68 countries across all continents, we show that increases in the number of global change stressors simultaneously exceeding medium–high levels of stress (that is, relative to their maximum levels observed in nature) are negatively and significantly correlated with soil C stocks and mineral association across global biomes. Soil C is particularly vulnerable in low-productivity ecosystems (for example, deserts), which are subjected to a greater number of global change stressors exceeding medium–high levels of stress simultaneously. Taken together, our work indicates that the number of global change stressors is a crucial factor for soil C storage and persistence worldwide.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02019-w

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