Emergent Climatic Controls on Soil Carbon Turnover and Its Variability in Warm Climates

Abstract

Climate plays a critical role in altering soil carbon (C) turnover and long-term soil C storage by regulating water availability and temperature, and in turn biological activity. However, a systematic analysis of how key climatic factors shape the global patterns of soil C turnover is still lacking. Using global observation-based data sets and a transit time theory, here we show that—excluding croplands and cold regions—soil C turnover time (τTO) and its variability are strongly related to ecosystem aridity through a power law scaling. According to such a relation, soil C turnover is faster but also more variable in wetter regions, suggesting more complex C cycling processes. The observed scaling of τTO and its coefficient of variation with aridity underlines the fundamental controls of climate on soil C turnover and may help reconcile soil C models with empirical observations for improved projection of soil C dynamics under climate change.