When compared to virgin land (forest and grassland), croplands store significantly lower amounts of organic carbon (OC), mainly as a result of soil tillage, and decreased plant inputs to the soil over the whole year. Doubts have been expressed over how much reduced and zero tillage agriculture can increase OC in soils when the whole soil profile is considered. Consequently, cover‐crops that are grown in‐between crops instead o...

Burning has commonly been used to increase forage production and nutrients cycling in grasslands. However, its long‐term effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (N) pools within the aggregates and the relation between aggregates‐associated SOC and soil CO 2 emissions need further appraisal. This study evaluated the effects of 64 years of annual burning on SOC and N dynamics compared to annual mowing and undisturbed t...

The net flux of CO 2 exchanged with the atmosphere following grassland‐related land‐use change ( LUC ) depends on the subsequent temporal dynamics of soil organic carbon ( SOC ). Yet, the magnitude and timing of these dynamics are still unclear. We compiled a global data set of 836 paired‐sites to quantify temporal SOC changes after grassland‐related LUC . In order to discriminate between SOC losses from the initial ecosystem...

Surface soils, which contain the largest pool of terrestrial organic carbon (C), may be able to sequester atmospheric C and thus mitigate climate change. However, this remains controversial, largely due to insufficient data and knowledge gaps in respect of organic C contents and stocks in soils and the main factors of their control. Up to now and despite numerous evaluations of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks worldwide, the s...