Dataset Information

Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage.

ABSTRACT: Soils store more carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems^1,2. How soil organic carbon (SOC) forms and persists remains uncertain^1,3, which makes it challenging to understand how it will respond to climatic change^3,4. It has been suggested that soil microorganisms play an important role in SOC formation, preservation and loss^5-7. Although microorganisms affect the accumulation and loss of soil organic matter through many pathways^4,6,8-11, microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) is an integrative metric that can capture the balance of these processes^12,13. Although CUE has the potential to act as a predictor of variation in SOC storage, the role of CUE in SOC persistence remains unresolved^7,14,15. Here we examine the relationship between CUE and the preservation of SOC, and interactions with climate, vegetation and edaphic properties, using a combination of global-scale datasets, a microbial-process explicit model, data assimilation, deep learning and meta-analysis. We find that CUE is at least four times as important as other evaluated factors, such as carbon input, decomposition or vertical transport, in determining SOC storage and its spatial variation across the globe. In addition, CUE shows a positive correlation with SOC content. Our findings point to microbial CUE as a major determinant of global SOC storage. Understanding the microbial processes underlying CUE and their environmental dependence may help the prediction of SOC feedback to a changing climate.

SUBMITTER: Tao F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10307633 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage.

Tao Feng F Huang Yuanyuan Y Hungate Bruce A BA Manzoni Stefano S Frey Serita D SD Schmidt Michael W I MWI Reichstein Markus M Carvalhais Nuno N Ciais Philippe P Jiang Lifen L Lehmann Johannes J Wang Ying-Ping YP Houlton Benjamin Z BZ Ahrens Bernhard B Mishra Umakant U Hugelius Gustaf G Hocking Toby D TD Lu Xingjie X Shi Zheng Z Viatkin Kostiantyn K Vargas Ronald R Yigini Yusuf Y Omuto Christian C Malik Ashish A AA Peralta Guillermo G Cuevas-Corona Rosa R Di Paolo Luciano E LE Luotto Isabel I Liao Cuijuan C Liang Yi-Shuang YS Saynes Vinisa S VS Huang Xiaomeng X Luo Yiqi Y

Nature 20230524 7967

Soils store more carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems1,2. How soil organic carbon (SOC) forms and persists remains uncertain1,3, which makes it challenging to understand how it will respond to climatic change3,4. It has been suggested that soil microorganisms play an important role in SOC formation, preservation and loss5-7. Although microorganisms affect the accumulation and loss of soil organic matter through many pathways4,6,8-11, mic ...[more]

PMID: 37225998

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Project description:Soil microbial biomass carbon (SMBC) is important in regulating soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics along soil profiles by mediating the decomposition and formation of SOC. The dataset (VDMBC) is about the vertical distributions of SOC, SMBC, and soil microbial quotient (SMQ = SMBC/SOC) and their relations to environmental factors across five continents. Data were collected from literature, with a total of 289 soil profiles and 1040 observations in different soil layers compiled. The associated environment data collectd include climate, ecosystem types, and edaphic factors. We developed this dataset by searching the Web of Sciene and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure from the year of 1970 to 2019. All the data in this dataset met two creteria: 1) there were at least three mineral soil layers along a soil profile, and 2) SMBC was measured using the fumigation extraction method. The data in tables and texts were obtained from literature directly, and the data in figures were extracted by using the GetData Graph digitizer software version 2.25. When climate and soil properties were not available from publications, we obtainted the data from the World Weather Information Service (https://worldweather.wmo.int/en/home.html) and SoilGrids at a spatial resolution of 250 meters (version 0.5.3, https://soilgrids.org). The units of all the variables were converted to the standard international units or commonly used ones and the values were transformed correspondingly. For example, the value of soil organic matter (SOM) was converted to SOC by using the equation (SOC = SOM × 0.58). This dataset can be used in predicting global SOC changes along soil profiles by using the multi-layer soil carbon models. It can also be used to analyse how soil microbial biomass changes with plant roots as well as the composition, structure, and functions of soil microbial communities along soil profiles at large spatial scales. This dataset offers opportunities to improve our prediction of SOC dynamics under global changes and to advance our understanding of the environmental controls.

Dataset Information

Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage.

Publications

Microbial carbon use efficiency promotes global soil carbon storage.

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