Long-term warming altered soil physical structure and soil organic carbon pools in wheatland field

Summary The impacts of long-term warming on soil physical structure and soil organic carbon (SOC) pools are currently disputed and uncertain. We conducted an eleven-year warming experiment in wheatland field in Henan, China. We found that long-term warming significantly increased soil bulk density by 4.5%, and significantly decreased total porosity and non-capillary porosity by 3.4% and 5.0%, respectively. Besides, long-term warming decreased the >2 mm fraction proportion and increased <0.053 mm fraction proportion of dry and wet aggregates. The mean weight diameter value for dry and wet aggregates in long-term warming treatment was significantly decreased by 7.0% and 6.7%, respectively. Moreover, long-term warming significantly decreased the total SOC, very labile pool (F1) and labile pool (F2) content by 10.6%, 30.6%, and 43.6%, and significantly increased the less labile pool (F3) and non-labile pool (F4) content by 94.2% and 21.1%, respectively. Long-term warming increased the passive carbon pool percentage but decreased the active carbon pool (ACP) percentage. Our results suggest that long-term warming negatively affected the soil's physical structure and impaired soil ACP accumulation. The findings of this study help improve our understanding of the response of farmland soils in northern China to climate change and provide scientific basis for establishing carbon management measures in farmland.