Persistence and turnover of soil organic carbon in global drylands
, the latter far older than machine-learning (<50 years) or Earth system models predict. Aridity, net primary productivity, and SOC content are dominant predictors for radiocarbon signatures, with abrupt shifts to older C beyond an aridity threshold of ~0.87. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate the vulnerability of older carbon into models and land management strategies.
Authors
- Jaime Martínez‐Valderrama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5859-5674)
- Susan Trumbore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3885-6202)
- Miguel García‐Gómez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3148-1495)
- Victoria Ochoa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2055-2094)
- Andrés Tangarife‐Escobar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5185-0011)
- Hugo Sáiz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7568-2996)
- César Plaza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8616-7001)
- Emilio Guirado (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5348-7391)
- Carlos A. Sierra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0009-4169)
- Sönke Zaehle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5602-7956)
- Guang Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2048-6461)
- Sergio Asensio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4376-2964)
- Sophie F. von Fromm (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1820-1455)
- Cong Wang
- Jianbei Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5286-5645)
- Y Zhang
- Michaela Anna Dippold (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3657-4693)
- De Shorn E. Bramble (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1212-4575)
- Yoann Le Bagousse‐Pinguet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5615-5541)
- Marion Schrumpf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4219-4125)
- Nicolas Gross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9730-3240)
- Nan Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1139-2033)
- David J. Eldridge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2191-486X)
- Weiliang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4526-7270)
- Betty Mendoza
- Yunqiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3380-549X)
- Enrique Valencia
- Bojie Fu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9920-9802)
- Fernando T. Maestre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7434-4856)
- Juan J. Gaitán
- Kai Wang
- Beatriz Gozalo
Institutions
- Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ES)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Alicante (ES)
- Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (ES)
- Universidad de Jaén (ES)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Université Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Université d'Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse (FR)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- Montana State University (US)
- Universidad de Zaragoza (ES)
- UNSW Sydney (AU)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas (ES)
- VetAgro Sup (FR)
- Centre de Recherche et d’Enseignement de Géosciences de l’Environnement (FR)
- Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias (ES)
- Forest Research (GB)
- Guangdong Academy of Forestry (CN)
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (DE)
- Shaanxi Institute of Zoology (CN)
- Institute of Earth Environment (CN)
- Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES)
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70623-9
- Primary Topic
- Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
- Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
- Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences