The ability of soils to aggregate, more than the state of aggregation, promotes protected soil organic matter formation

Efforts to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) are pursued as a viable climate change mitigation strategy. Boosting SOC stocks requires increasing plant carbon (C) inputs and promoting their persistence in SOC. In well aerated mineral soils, water soluble inputs are expected to stabilize through chemical binding to minerals, forming mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC) before or after microbial transformation, while structural inputs are expected to stabilize as particulate organic carbon (POC) via protection in soil aggregates. Although ample research is centered on the effects of soil aggregation, its disturbance (e.g., tillage), and microbial processing on SOC cycling, we still lack mechanistic…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Agriculture
• NI
  National Institute of Food and Agriculture

  Awards: 2018-67019-27799, 2021-67019-34241
• AR
  Agricultural Research Service