Articles | Volume 18, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3697-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-3697-2026
Data description article
 | 
02 Jun 2026
Data description article |  | 02 Jun 2026

Microbial necromass contribution to topsoil organic carbon storage of natural and agricultural ecosystems

Jing-Li Lu, Thomas W. Crowther, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo, Wenjie Liu, Yamin Jiang, Hongyang Sun, and Zhiqiang Wang

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Cited articles

Anderson, T. H. and Domsch, K. H.: Ratios of microbial biomass carbon to total organic carbon in arable soils, Soil Biol. Biochem., 21, 471–479, https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-0717(89)90117-X, 1989. 
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Cao, Y., Ding, J., Li, J., Xin, Z., Ren, S., and Wang, T.: Necromass-derived soil organic carbon and its drivers at the global scale, Soil Biol. Biochem., 181, 109025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109025, 2023. 
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We used a global dataset to examine patterns and drivers of fungal necromass C (FNC), bacterial necromass C (BNC), and their ratio across agricultural and natural ecosystems. FNC contributed about twice as much as BNC to soil organic carbon (SOC) in both systems, with higher contributions overall in agricultural soils. Soil C/N and clay content mainly drove FNC and BNC contributions, while elevation primarily influenced the FNC/BNC ratio.
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