Articles | Volume 23, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-811-2026
© 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-23-811-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 Jan 2026
Research article |
| 27 Jan 2026
| 27 Jan 2026
Conceptualising carbon cycling pathways across different land-use types based on rates and ages of soil-respired CO2
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Biogeoscience, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Dylan Geissbühler
Laboratory for the Analysis of Radiocarbon with AMS, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
Stefan Tobler
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Annegret Udke
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Geochronology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Alexander S. Brunmayr
Biogeoscience, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Margaux Moreno Duborgel
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Biogeoscience, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Ciriaco McMackin
Geochronology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Lukas Wacker
Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Philip Gautschi
Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Negar Haghipour
Biogeoscience, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Laboratory for Ion Beam Physics, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Markus Egli
Geochronology, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Ansgar Kahmen
Physiological Plant Ecology, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Jens Leifeld
Climate and Agriculture Group, Agroscope, Reckenholz, Switzerland
Timothy I. Eglinton
Biogeoscience, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Frank Hagedorn
Forest Soils and Biogeochemistry, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Data sets
Data and Code: Carbon cycling pathways across land-use types L. I. Minich https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18067939
Model code and software
Data and Code: Carbon cycling pathways across land-use types L. I. Minich https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18067939
Short summary
We developed a conceptual framework using rates and 14C-derived ages of soil-respired CO2 and its sources (autotrophic, heterotrophic) to identify carbon cycling pathways in different land-use types. Rates, ages and sources of respired CO2 varied across forests, grasslands, croplands, and managed peatlands. Our results suggest that the relationship between rates and ages of respired CO2 serves as a robust indicator of carbon retention and loss from natural to disturbed systems.
We developed a conceptual framework using rates and 14C-derived ages of soil-respired CO2 and...
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