Todd Longbottom
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343, USA
Leila Wahab
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343, USA
Kyungjin Min
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343, USA, and Center for Anthropocene Studies, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology, Daejeon, South Korea
Anna Jurusik
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343, USA
Kimber Moreland
Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
California 94550, USA
Manisha Dolui
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Touyee Thao
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Melinda Gonzales
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Yulissa Perez Rojas
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Jennifer Alvarez
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Zachary Malone
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Jing Yan
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Teamrat A. Ghezzehei
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Dept. of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, California
95343 USA
Abstract
Soils are the foundation of life on land and represent one of the largest global carbon (C)
reservoirs. Because of the vast amount of C that they store and the continuous fluxes of C with
the atmosphere, soil can either be part of the solution or problem with respect to climate
change. Using a bank account analogy, the size and significance of the soil organic C (SOC) pool
is best understood as the balance between inputs (deposits) from net primary productivity and
outputs (withdrawals) from SOC through decay and/or physical transport. Reversing the current
problematic trend of increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere must be met
with reduced fossil fuel emissions. At the same time, we argue that “climate-smart” land
management can promote both terrestrial sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide
(CO2) and contribute to improving soil health and benefits. In this review, we
highlight environments that are particularly vulnerable to SOC destabilization via land use and
climatic factors and outline existing and emerging strategies that use soils to address
anthropogenic climate change.
Manuscript received 15 July 2021. Revised manuscript received 27 Jan. 2022.
Manuscript accepted 3 Feb. 2022. Posted 23 Mar. 2022.
© The Geological Society of America, 2022. CC-BY-NC.
https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG519A.1