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Aims <p>Forests represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink, significantly influencing global climate. Afforestation and rewilding can restore carbon storage capacity, but their divergent effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and stability—particularly particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC)—remain unresolved. We aim to quantify these differential effects while identifying potential soil structural pathways and assessing environmental modulation.</p> Methods <p>Using meta-analysis of 294 global paired observations from 36 studies, we quantified afforestation versus rewilding effects on POC and MAOC via response ratios (ln<i>RR</i>). Key drivers and stabilization pathways were identified through random forests and structural equation modeling.</p> Results <p>We found that rewilding exerted a more pronounced effect on POC and MAOC increases than afforestation (+ 75% v.s. + 41% and + 15% v.s. + 29%, respectively). For rewilding, high clay content increased MAOC (<i>R</i> = 0.31, <i>P</i> &lt; 0.001), and low precipitation and low initial carbon stocks promote POC accumulation (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05) potentially caused organo-mineral binding. Moreover, long-term forest development increases SOC through increased vegetation cover (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05). In afforestation, bulk density (BD) negatively correlated with POC (<i>R</i> = -0.17, <i>P</i> &lt; 0.001) and MAOC (<i>R</i> = -0.06, <i>P</i> &lt; 0.05) probably caused by high BD limiting organic matter input and affecting aggregate structure.</p> Conclusions <p>We found rewilding maximizes MAOC stabilization through clay-organo-mineral binding, while afforestation enhances POC accumulation in low-density soils. Therefore, spatially differentiated strategies are more conducive to improving global forest carbon sink capacity, advancing Paris Agreement climate goals.</p>

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Soil structure underlies the divergence in carbon transformation pathways between afforestation and rewilding

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年12月13日

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  • Changbiao Cai,
  • Tianyi Qiu,
  • Zhiyuan Xu,
  • Ji Liu,
  • Haoran He,
  • Haijian Bing,
  • Linchuan Fang

摘要

Aims

Forests represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink, significantly influencing global climate. Afforestation and rewilding can restore carbon storage capacity, but their divergent effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation and stability—particularly particulate organic carbon (POC) and mineral-associated organic carbon (MAOC)—remain unresolved. We aim to quantify these differential effects while identifying potential soil structural pathways and assessing environmental modulation.

Methods

Using meta-analysis of 294 global paired observations from 36 studies, we quantified afforestation versus rewilding effects on POC and MAOC via response ratios (lnRR). Key drivers and stabilization pathways were identified through random forests and structural equation modeling.

Results

We found that rewilding exerted a more pronounced effect on POC and MAOC increases than afforestation (+ 75% v.s. + 41% and + 15% v.s. + 29%, respectively). For rewilding, high clay content increased MAOC (R = 0.31, P < 0.001), and low precipitation and low initial carbon stocks promote POC accumulation (P < 0.05) potentially caused organo-mineral binding. Moreover, long-term forest development increases SOC through increased vegetation cover (P < 0.05). In afforestation, bulk density (BD) negatively correlated with POC (R = -0.17, P < 0.001) and MAOC (R = -0.06, P < 0.05) probably caused by high BD limiting organic matter input and affecting aggregate structure.

Conclusions

We found rewilding maximizes MAOC stabilization through clay-organo-mineral binding, while afforestation enhances POC accumulation in low-density soils. Therefore, spatially differentiated strategies are more conducive to improving global forest carbon sink capacity, advancing Paris Agreement climate goals.