The soil Microbial Carbon Pump as a new concept for terrestrial carbon sequestration

Soil is a huge terrestrial carbon pool, which has higher carbon storage than the sum of atmospheric and terrestrial vegetation carbon. Small fluctuations in soil carbon pool can affect regional carbon flux and global climate change. As soil organic carbon plays key roles in soil carbon storage and sequestration, studying its composition, sources and stability mechanism is a key to deeply understand the functions of terrestrial ecosystem and how it will respond to climate changes. The recently-proposed concept of soil Microbial Carbon Pump (MCP) emphasizes the importance of soil microbial anabolism and its contributions to soil carbon formation and stabilization, which can be applied for elucidating the source, formation and sequestration of soil organic carbon. This article elaborates MCP-mediated soil carbon sequestration mechanism and its influencing factors, as well as representative scientific questions we may explore with the soil MCP conceptual framework.

Automated summary

Soil is a massive carbon pool that has a significant impact on regional carbon flux and global climate change. Understanding the composition, sources, and stability mechanisms of soil organic carbon is crucial for comprehending terrestrial ecosystem functions and responses to climate change. The concept of the soil Microbial Carbon Pump highlights the importance of soil microbial processes in carbon formation and stabilization, offering insights into the source and sequestration of soil organic carbon.