Global soil profiles indicate depth-dependent soil carbon losses under a warmer climate

Mingming Wang, Xiaowei Guo, Shuai Zhang, Liujun Xiao, Umakant Mishra, Yuanhe Yang, Biao Zhu, Guocheng Wang, Xiali Mao, Tian Qian, Tong Jiang, Zhou Shi and Zhongkui Luo ()
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Mingming Wang: Zhejiang University
Xiaowei Guo: Zhejiang University
Shuai Zhang: Zhejiang University
Liujun Xiao: Zhejiang University
Umakant Mishra: Sandia National Laboratories
Yuanhe Yang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Biao Zhu: Peking University
Guocheng Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiali Mao: Zhejiang University
Tian Qian: Zhejiang University
Tong Jiang: Zhejiang University
Zhou Shi: Zhejiang University
Zhongkui Luo: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Soil organic carbon (SOC) changes under future climate warming are difficult to quantify in situ. Here we apply an innovative approach combining space-for-time substitution with meta-analysis to SOC measurements in 113,013 soil profiles across the globe to estimate the effect of future climate warming on steady-state SOC stocks. We find that SOC stock will reduce by 6.0 ± 1.6% (mean±95% confidence interval), 4.8 ± 2.3% and 1.3 ± 4.0% at 0–0.3, 0.3–1 and 1–2 m soil depths, respectively, under 1 °C air warming, with additional 4.2%, 2.2% and 1.4% losses per every additional 1 °C warming, respectively. The largest proportional SOC losses occur in boreal forests. Existing SOC level is the predominant determinant of the spatial variability of SOC changes with higher percentage losses in SOC-rich soils. Our work demonstrates that warming induces more proportional SOC losses in topsoil than in subsoil, particularly from high-latitudinal SOC-rich systems.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33278-w

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