Fungal Necromass Carbon Dominates Global Soil Organic Carbon Storage.

Davey L Jones, Wolfgang Wanek, Hong Chen, Haoran Fu, Zhengbo Ma, Guopeng Liang, David R Chadwick, Lianghuan Wu, Qingxu Ma

Journal: Global change biology 2025;31(8):e70413

PMID: 40781876

Full Text on Wiley View on PubMed

Abstract

Soil organic carbon (C) is derived primarily from plant and microbial necromass; however, the global distribution and contribution of different necromass inputs to soil C storage remain unclear. We conducted a global meta-analysis encompassing 2410 observations from 249 microbial necromass studies and 786 observations from 72 plant residue studies. The results showed that the content of microbial-derived C (10.63 ± 0.39 g C kg soil) exceeded that of plant-derived C (lignin phenol carbon (LPC), 5.63 ± 0.45 g C kg soil), across the 0-100 cm soil profile, with fungal necromass carbon (FNC; 7.24 ± 0.21 g C kg) contributing the most to soil C-a pattern consistently observed across all depths. In addition, in the topsoil (0-20 cm), forests (9.39 ± 1.22 g C kg) and grasslands (9.73 ± 1.74 g C kg) showed significantly higher LPC contents than croplands and wetlands; therefore, cropland expansion significantly reduces microbial- and plant-derived carbon stocks in topsoil. Global FNC, BNC, and LPC stocks were estimated to be 211 Pg (95% CI: 156-270 Pg), 71 Pg (95% CI: 59-88 Pg) and 168 Pg (95% CI: 151-186 Pg) in topsoil, respectively. Lower soil pH and mean annual temperature were associated with higher FNC, BNC, and LPC contents, particularly in high-latitude regions like North America. These results demonstrate that microbial necromass, rather than plant residues, dominates soil C storage globally. These findings highlight the need for management strategies that address both land-use change and rising temperatures to protect microbial and plant C pools.

Address: Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; State Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Safety, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; School of Environmental and Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, UK.; School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertiliser, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.; Institute for Global Change Biology and School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.; School of Environmental and Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, UK.; Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research, Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Center of Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.; Ministry of Education Key Lab of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; State Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Safety, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.; Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.

DOI: 10.1111/gcb.70413

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https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70413

MeSH Terms: Soil, Carbon, Soil Microbiology, Carbon Sequestration, Fungi