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Ensuring planetary survival: the centrality of organic carbon in balancing the multifunctional nature of soils
Open accessAbstract
Not only do soils provide 98.7% of the calories consumed by humans, they also provide numerous other functions upon which planetary survivability closely depends. However, our continuously increasing focus on soils for biomass provision (food, fiber, and energy) through intensive agriculture is rapidly degrading soils and diminishing their capacity to deliver other vital functions. These tradeoffs in soil functionality – the increased provision of one function at the expense of other critical planetary functions – are the focus of this review. We examine how land-use change for biomass provision has decreased the ability of soils to regulate the carbon pool and thereby contribute profoundly to climate change, to cycle the nutrients that sustain plant growth and ecosystem health, to protect the soil biodiversity upon which many other functions depend, and to cycle the Earth’s freshwater supplies. We also examine how this decreasing ability of soil to provide these other functions can be halted and reversed. Despite the complexity and the interconnectedness of soil functions, we show that soil organic carbon plays a central role and is a master indicator for soil functioning and that we require a better understanding of the factors controlling the behavior and persistence of C in soils. Given the threats facing humanity and their economies, it is imperative that we recognize that Soil Security is itself an existential challenge and that we need to increase our focus on the multiple functions of soils for long-term human welfare and survivability of the planet.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Kopittke, P. M., Berhe, A. A., Carrillo, Y., Cavagnaro, T. R., Chen, D., Chen, Q.-L., Román Dobarco, M., Dijkstra, F. A., Field, D. J., Grundy, M. J., He, J.-Z., Hoyle, F. C., Kögel-Knabner, I., Lam, S. K., Marschner, P., Martinez, C., McBratney, A. B., McDonald-Madden, E., Menzies, N. W., Mosley, L. M., Mueller, C. W., Murphy, D. V., Nielsen, U. N., O’Donnell, A. G., Pendall, E., Pett-Ridge, J., Rumpel, C., Young, I. M., & Minasny, B.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of California, Merced (US)
- Western Sydney University (AU)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Faculty of Science, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- Murdoch University (AU)
- School of Life Sciences and Institute of Advanced Study (TUM-IAS), Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany
- School of Earth and Environmental Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Physical and Life Science Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, USA
- INRAE, CNRS, Institute for Ecology and Ecological Sciences, (iEES Paris, UMR Sorbonne Université, CNRS, INRAE, UPEC, IRD), Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Corresponding author
- Minasny, Budiman
- ORCID
- Kopittke, Peter M.
- Berhe, Asmeret Asefaw
- Carrillo, Yolima
- Cavagnaro, Timothy R.
- Chen, Deli
- Chen, Qing-Lin
- Dijkstra, Feike A.
- Field, Damien J.
- He, Ji-Zheng
- Hoyle, Frances C.
- Lam, Shu Kee
- Marschner, Petra
- Martinez, Cristina
- McBratney, Alex B.
- Menzies, Neal W.
- Mosley, Luke M.
- Mueller, Carsten W.
- Murphy, Daniel V.
- Nielsen, Uffe N.
- O’Donnell, Anthony G.
- Pendall, Elise
- Young, Iain M.
- Minasny, Budiman
- Venue
- Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-01-10
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 4308-4324
- ISSN
- 1064-3389 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-6537
- OpenAlex
- W4206465534
- Cited by
- 215
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 46 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 48 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 24
- FWCI
- 23.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Murdoch University Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Keywords
- soil organic carbon, soil functions, soil security, land use change, intensive agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, soil biodiversity, climate change mitigation, soil degradation
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