The Fraction of Carbon in Soil Organic Matter as a National-Scale Soil Process Indicator.

ABSTRACT: Soil organic matter (SOM) is an important component of ecosystem carbon stocks. Generally, SOM found in mineral and organo-mineral soils can be categorised into two fractions: particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-associated-organic matter (MAOM), both of which contain soil organic carbon (SOC). Understanding the relationship between SOC and SOM fractions provides insight into SOM decomposition and SOC storage potential. Here we show an intriguingly tight relationship between the fraction of SOC in SOM (denoted as fOC$$ {f}_{\mathrm{OC}} $$ ), habitat and soil physical properties, as well as SOC stored in POM and MAOM. This opens up new ways to predict spatial variations in the distribution of POC and MAOC using more widely available fOC$$ {f}_{\mathrm{OC}} $$ data as a covariate. B

SUBMITTER: Reinsch S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12573071 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature