Climate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen

Climate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Climate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen Zhijing Yu, Xin Song, Roger Grau-Andrés, Catherine Preece, Liisa Ukonmaanaho, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8419639/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Terrestrial soil carbon (C) accumulation is governed by the balance between plant C uptake through gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (expressed as net ecosystem production, NEP), and by the proportion of this assimilated C that is transferred into soil organic carbon (SOC) pools. However, the efficiency with which assimilated C becomes stabilised in soils remains poorly quantified, and its drivers unknown. This knowledge gap constrains our ability to properly evaluate the long-term C sink potential of forests. Here, we integrated 1990–2020 soil C stock data from forest monitoring networks and ecosystem C flux data from upscaled and remotely-sensed-based C flux products across Europe to quantify and investigate the controls of SOC stocks, accumulation rates, and C transfer efficiencies from GPP and NEP (GSE and NSE). On average and across all studied forests, annual SOC accumulation rates, in the 0–80 cm soil profile, represented 11.9% and 31.2% of mean annual GPP (GSE) and NEP (NSE), respectively. SOC stocks and accumulation rates increased with higher NEP, whereas SOC accumulation rates declined with higher ecosystem respiration. Sites with cool and wet climates and fine-textured soils exhibited higher GSE and NSE, while high vapour pressure deficit, precipitation, and coarse soils were consistently related to reduced C stabilisation. Structural equation models showed that soil nitrogen exerted the strongest total positive effects on SOC stock (0.79, 95% CI: 0.69–0.85), SOC accumulation rate (0.87, 95% CI: 0.79–0.93), GSE (0.86, 95% CI: 0.79–0.92), and NSE (0.62, 95% CI: 0.56–0.65). Overall, these results provide a large-scale empirical benchmark of ecosystem C transfer efficiency, highlighting soil nitrogen as the dominant regulator of long-term soil C sequestration. Incorporating the observed variability in C transfer efficiency driven by soil nitrogen and climate into Earth system models will enhance predictions of forest C sequestration potential. Forestry Terrestrial Ecology ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency gross primary production (GPP) net ecosystem production (NEP) soil organic carbon (SOC) atmospheric deposition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SIzyv6.docx Supporting Information for " Climate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen " Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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16:10:10","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":4722202,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eSupporting Information for\u003cstrong\u003e \"\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003eClimate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen\u003c/em\u003e\"\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"SIzyv6.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8419639/v1/9ab14bc2d0946f0131d91a90.docx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eClimate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"91d20311-6aca-4f58-9d42-721a8b48787e","identifier":"10.13039/501100000781","name":"European Research Council","awardNumber":"ERC-StG-2022 101076740 STOIKOS","order_by":0}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency, gross primary production (GPP), net ecosystem production (NEP), soil organic carbon (SOC), atmospheric deposition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8419639/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8419639/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eTerrestrial soil carbon (C) accumulation is governed by the balance between plant C uptake through gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (expressed as net ecosystem production, NEP), and by the proportion of this assimilated C that is transferred into soil organic carbon (SOC) pools. However, the efficiency with which assimilated C becomes stabilised in soils remains poorly quantified, and its drivers unknown. This knowledge gap constrains our ability to properly evaluate the long-term C sink potential of forests. Here, we integrated 1990\u0026ndash;2020 soil C stock data from forest monitoring networks and ecosystem C flux data from upscaled and remotely-sensed-based C flux products across Europe to quantify and investigate the controls of SOC stocks, accumulation rates, and C transfer efficiencies from GPP and NEP (GSE and NSE). On average and across all studied forests, annual SOC accumulation rates, in the 0\u0026ndash;80 cm soil profile, represented 11.9% and 31.2% of mean annual GPP (GSE) and NEP (NSE), respectively. SOC stocks and accumulation rates increased with higher NEP, whereas SOC accumulation rates declined with higher ecosystem respiration. Sites with cool and wet climates and fine-textured soils exhibited higher GSE and NSE, while high vapour pressure deficit, precipitation, and coarse soils were consistently related to reduced C stabilisation. Structural equation models showed that soil nitrogen exerted the strongest total positive effects on SOC stock (0.79, 95% CI: 0.69\u0026ndash;0.85), SOC accumulation rate (0.87, 95% CI: 0.79\u0026ndash;0.93), GSE (0.86, 95% CI: 0.79\u0026ndash;0.92), and NSE (0.62, 95% CI: 0.56\u0026ndash;0.65). Overall, these results provide a large-scale empirical benchmark of ecosystem C transfer efficiency, highlighting soil nitrogen as the dominant regulator of long-term soil C sequestration. Incorporating the observed variability in C transfer efficiency driven by soil nitrogen and climate into Earth system models will enhance predictions of forest C sequestration potential.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Climate regulates ecosystem carbon transfer efficiency from atmosphere to soil via soil nitrogen","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-23 14:41:10","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8419639/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"96b52518-453e-4fed-9d3e-2f091f9f7ad3","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 23rd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":60028470,"name":"Forestry"},{"id":60028471,"name":"Terrestrial Ecology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-12-23T14:41:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-23 14:41:10","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8419639","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8419639","identity":"rs-8419639","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}