Articles | Volume 22, issue 16
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4107-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4107-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
25 Aug 2025
Research article |
| 25 Aug 2025
| 25 Aug 2025
Drivers of soil organic carbon from temperate to alpine forests: a model-based analysis of the Swiss forest soil inventory with Yasso20
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Sia Gosheva-Oney
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Department of Evolutional Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Markus Didion
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Roman Flury
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Lorenz Walthert
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Stephan Zimmermann
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Brian J. Oney
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Pascal A. Niklaus
Department of Evolutional Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Esther Thürig
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Toni Viskari
Climate Research Programme, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy
Jari Liski
Climate Research Programme, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland
Frank Hagedorn
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
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Short summary
Predicting soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in forests is crucial to determining the C balance, yet drivers of SOC stocks remain uncertain at large scales. Across a broad environmental gradient in Switzerland, we compared measured SOC stocks with those modeled by Yasso, which is commonly used for greenhouse gas budgets. We show that soil mineral properties and climate are the main controls of SOC stocks, indicating that better accounting of these processes will advance the accuracy of SOC stock predictions.
Predicting soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in forests is crucial to determining the C balance,...
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