Articles | Volume 22, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-1427-2025
Research article
 | 
17 Mar 2025
Research article |  | 17 Mar 2025

A microbially driven and depth-explicit soil organic carbon model constrained by carbon isotopes to reduce parameter equifinality

Marijn Van de Broek, Gerard Govers, Marion Schrumpf, and Johan Six

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Cited articles

Ahrens, B., Braakhekke, M. C., Guggenberger, G., Schrumpf, M., and Reichstein, M.: Contribution of sorption, DOC transport and microbial interactions to the 14C age of a soil organic carbon profile: Insights from a calibrated process model, Soil Biol. Biochem., 88, 390–402, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.06.008, 2015. a, b
Ahrens, B., Guggenberger, G., Rethemeyer, J., John, S., Marschner, B., Heinze, S., Angst, G., Mueller, C. W., Kögel-Knabner, I., Leuschner, C., Hertel, D., Bachmann, J., Reichstein, M., and Schrumpf, M.: Combination of energy limitation and sorption capacity explains 14C depth gradients, Soil Biol. Biochem., 148, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107912, 2020. a, b, c
Akinyede, R., Taubert, M., Schrumpf, M., Trumbore, S., and Küsel, K.: Rates of dark CO2 fixation are driven by microbial biomass in a temperate forest soil, Soil Biol. Biochem., 150, 107950, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.107950, 2020. a, b, c
Akinyede, R., Taubert, M., Schrumpf, M., Trumbore, S., and Küsel, K.: Dark CO2 fixation in temperate beech and pine forest soils, Soil Biol. Biochem., 165, 108526, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108526, 2022. a
Amundson, R. and Baisden, W. T.: Stable Isotope Tracers and Mathematical Models in Soil Organic Matter Studies, in: Methods in Ecosystem Science, edited by: Sala, O. E., Jackson, R. B., Mooney, H. A., and Howarth, R. W., Springer, New York, NY, 117–137, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1224-9_9, 2000. a
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Soil organic carbon models are used to predict how soils affect the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. We show that equifinality – the phenomenon that different parameter values lead to correct overall model outputs, albeit with a different model behaviour – is an important source of model uncertainty. Our results imply that adding more complexity to soil organic carbon models is unlikely to lead to better predictions as long as more data to constrain model parameters are not available.
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