Articles | Volume 23, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-7029-2026
© Author(s) 2026. 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-23-7029-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Ideas and perspectives
| 
07 Oct 2026
Ideas and perspectives |
| 07 Oct 2026
| 07 Oct 2026
Ideas and perspectives: Beyond microbes – integrating termites into global soil carbon cycling models
Umar Farooq
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Chiara Pasut
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Waite Campus, South Australia, Australia
Ying-Ping Wang
CSIRO Environment, Clayton South, Victoria, Australia
Amy E. Zanne
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA
Habacuc Flores-Moreno
CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Dutton Park, Queensland, Australia
Baptiste Joseph Wijas
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York, USA
School of Environment, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
David I. Forrester
CSIRO Environment, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Jacqueline R. England
CSIRO Environment, Clayton South, Victoria, Australia
Bennett Macdonald
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Zachary A. Brown
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Senani Karunaratne
CSIRO Agriculture and Food, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
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EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2466, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2466, 2026
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We studied how much carbon soil could store and what limits it on farms. Using data from many farms across Australia, we compared current carbon levels with achievable levels and identified the main factors holding them back. We found that limits differ by soil condition and rainfall, meaning one solution does not fit all. This approach helps farmers target the right actions to improve soil health and increase carbon storage more effectively.
Jeffrey Beem-Miller, William J. Riley, Peter B. Reich, Michael W. I. Schmidt, Yuxuan Bai, Raimundo Bermudez Villanueva, Zach Brown, Abad Chabbi, Susan E. Crow, Wenxu Dong, Serita D. Frey, Paul J. Hanson, Kai Jensen, Melissa A. Knorr, Emma Lathrop, Avni Malhotra, Patrick Megonigal, Adrienne Nicotra, Andrew Nottingham, Genevieve L. Noyce, Roy L. Rich, Heidi Rodenhizer, Agustín Sarquis, Andreas Schindlbacher, Edward A. G. Schuur, Zheng Shi, Artur Stefanski, Viktoria Unger, Tana E. Wood, Yuanhe Yang, Zhijie Yang, Jizhong Zhou, Biao Zhu, and Margaret S. Torn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-23, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-23, 2026
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
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The Soil Warming to Depth Data Integration Effort (SWEDDIE) synthesizes data from deep soil warming experiments around the world (n = 23), offering new insight into warming responses of both surface and subsoils. We demonstrate that variation in soil warming with depth is driven largely by warming methodology, while soil moisture changes due to warming differ by ecosystem. This work serves a foundation for future syntheses with SWEDDIE.
Lingfei Wang, Gab Abramowitz, Ying-Ping Wang, Andy Pitman, Philippe Ciais, and Daniel S. Goll
Biogeosciences, 22, 7845–7863, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7845-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-7845-2025, 2025
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Accurate estimates of global soil organic carbon (SOC) content and its spatial pattern are critical for future climate change mitigation. However, the most advanced process-based SOC models struggle to do this task. Here we apply multiple explainable machine learning methods to identify missing variables and misrepresented relationships between environmental factors and SOC in these models, offering new insights to guide model development for more reliable SOC predictions.
Yi Xi, Philippe Ciais, Dan Zhu, Chunjing Qiu, Yuan Zhang, Shushi Peng, Gustaf Hugelius, Simon P. K. Bowring, Daniel S. Goll, and Ying-Ping Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 6043–6062, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6043-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-6043-2025, 2025
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Including high-latitude deep carbon is critical for projecting future soil carbon emissions, yet it is absent in most land surface models. Here we propose a new carbon accumulation protocol by integrating deep carbon from Yedoma deposits and representing the observed history of peat carbon formation in ORCHIDEE-MICT. Our results show an additional 157 Pg C in present-day Yedoma deposits and a 1–5 m shallower peat depth and 43 % less passive soil carbon in peatlands compared to the conventional protocol.
Lingfei Wang, Gab Abramowitz, Ying-Ping Wang, Andy Pitman, and Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel
SOIL, 10, 619–636, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-619-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-619-2024, 2024
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Effective management of soil organic carbon (SOC) requires accurate knowledge of its distribution and factors influencing its dynamics. We identify the importance of variables in spatial SOC variation and estimate SOC stocks in Australia using various models. We find there are significant disparities in SOC estimates when different models are used, highlighting the need for a critical re-evaluation of land management strategies that rely on the SOC distribution derived from a single approach.
Elizabeth S. Duan, Luciana Chavez Rodriguez, Nicole Hemming-Schroeder, Baptiste Wijas, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Alexander W. Cheesman, Lucas A. Cernusak, Michael J. Liddell, Paul Eggleton, Amy E. Zanne, and Steven D. Allison
Biogeosciences, 21, 3321–3338, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3321-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3321-2024, 2024
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Understanding the link between climate and carbon fluxes is crucial for predicting how climate change will impact carbon sinks. We estimated carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from deadwood in tropical Australia using wood moisture content and temperature. Our model predicted that the majority of deadwood carbon is released as CO2, except when termite activity is detected. Future models should also incorporate wood traits, like species and chemical composition, to better predict fluxes.
Mengjie Han, Qing Zhao, Xili Wang, Ying-Ping Wang, Philippe Ciais, Haicheng Zhang, Daniel S. Goll, Lei Zhu, Zhe Zhao, Zhixuan Guo, Chen Wang, Wei Zhuang, Fengchang Wu, and Wei Li
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 4871–4890, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4871-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-4871-2024, 2024
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The impact of biochar (BC) on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics is not represented in most land carbon models used for assessing land-based climate change mitigation. Our study develops a BC model that incorporates our current understanding of BC effects on SOC based on a soil carbon model (MIMICS). The BC model can reproduce the SOC changes after adding BC, providing a useful tool to couple dynamic land models to evaluate the effectiveness of BC application for CO2 removal from the atmosphere.
Xianjin He, Laurent Augusto, Daniel S. Goll, Bruno Ringeval, Ying-Ping Wang, Julian Helfenstein, Yuanyuan Huang, and Enqing Hou
Biogeosciences, 20, 4147–4163, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4147-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4147-2023, 2023
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We identified total soil P concentration as the most important predictor of all soil P pool concentrations, except for primary mineral P concentration, which is primarily controlled by soil pH and only secondarily by total soil P concentration. We predicted soil P pools’ distributions in natural systems, which can inform assessments of the role of natural P availability for ecosystem productivity, climate change mitigation, and the functioning of the Earth system.
Xianjin He, Laurent Augusto, Daniel S. Goll, Bruno Ringeval, Yingping Wang, Julian Helfenstein, Yuanyuan Huang, Kailiang Yu, Zhiqiang Wang, Yongchuan Yang, and Enqing Hou
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5831–5846, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5831-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5831-2021, 2021
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Our database of globally distributed natural soil total P (STP) concentration showed concentration ranged from 1.4 to 9630.0 (mean 570.0) mg kg−1. Global predictions of STP concentration increased with latitude. Global STP stocks (excluding Antarctica) were estimated to be 26.8 and 62.2 Pg in the topsoil and subsoil, respectively. Our global map of STP concentration can be used to constrain Earth system models representing the P cycle and to inform quantification of global soil P availability.
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Short summary
Global soil carbon models largely focus on microbes and overlook the role of termites in decomposing dead plant material. Here, we present a new framework for representing termite activity in carbon models and estimating how termites redistribute carbon between the atmosphere and soils. Our results suggest that termites strongly influence greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon cycling, particularly in tropical and seasonally dry regions that are vulnerable to climate change.
Global soil carbon models largely focus on microbes and overlook the role of termites in...
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