biostudies-literature00620Xu SKey Research Project of Chinese Academy of SciencesScience and Technology Development Project of Changchun of ChinaCooperative Project between CAS and Jilin Province of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaDepartment of Science and Technology of Jilin ProvinceNatural Science Foundation of Jilin ProvinceNational Key Research and Development Program of China2https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7227295biostudies-literatureUnknown15(1)Soil carbon (C) plays a critical role in the global C cycle and has a profound effect on climate change. To obtain an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of global soil C changes and better manage soil C, all meta-analysis results published during 2001-2019 relative to soil C were collected and synthesized. The effects of 33 influencing factors on soil C were analyzed, compared and classified into 5 grades according to their effects on soil C. The effects of different categories of influencing factors, including land use change (LUC), management and climate change, on soil C and the underlying mechanism were compared and discussed. We propose that natural ecosystems have the capacity to buffer soil C changes and that increasing C inputs is one of the best measures to sequester C. Furthermore, a comparison between the meta-analyses and previous studies related to soil C based on bibliometric analysis suggested that studies on wetland soil C, soil C budgets and the effects of pollution and pesticides on soil C should be strengthened in future research.Carbon balance and managementChanging soil carbon: influencing factors, sequestration strategy and research direction.PMC722729520180520090JH4192010400818DY01920190303070SF2019SYHZ0039418070494157125520180519002JH2016YFC0501202KFZD-SW-112Xu STian CSheng C62falseChanging soil carbon: influencing factors, sequestration strategy and research direction.Soil carbon (C) plays a critical role in the global C cycle and has a profound effect on climate change. To obtain an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of global soil C changes and better manage soil C, all meta-analysis results published during 2001-2019 relative to soil C were collected and synthesized. The effects of 33 influencing factors on soil C were analyzed, compared and classified into 5 grades according to their effects on soil C. The effects of different categories of influencing factors, including land use change (LUC), management and climate change, on soil C and the underlying mechanism were compared and discussed. We propose that natural ecosystems have the capacity to buffer soil C changes and that increasing C inputs is one of the best measures to sequester C. Furthermore, a comparison between the meta-analyses and previous studies related to soil C based on bibliometric analysis suggested that studies on wetland soil C, soil C budgets and the effects of pollution and pesticides on soil C should be strengthened in future research.2020-01-01T00:00:00Z2020 Feb2021-02-20T23:43:34Z2020-05-31T07:02:37ZS-EPMC72272953206712910.1186/s13021-020-0137-5