Comment on "Climate legacies drive global soil carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems".
editorial · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29546234.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.1701482 and PMC identifier 5851679.
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Abstract
Delgado-Baquerizo <i>et al</i>. (<i>Science Advances</i>, 12 April 2017, e1602008) use statistical correlations to infer that paleoclimate (6000 to 22,000 years ago) is a more important driver of current soil organic carbon stocks than the current-day climate. On the other hand, a wealth of radiocarbon measurements indicates that the organic carbon in most topsoils is only a few decades to perhaps a few centuries old. These seemingly incongruous results can perhaps be reconciled by considering that the long-term pedogenic development of a soil strongly influences the physiochemical properties, which lead to stabilization of new carbon entering that soil regardless of current climate.