Coexistence of biocrusts and vascular plants reduces soil organic carbon stability by increasing labile fractions in drylands.

Coexistence of biocrusts and vascular plants decreases soil organic carbon stability by 20% compared to pure plant patches in drylands.

• Why it matters: Understanding how new stable landscape units formed by biocrust-plant coexistence affect soil carbon is vital for predicting dryland responses to climate change and moisture shifts.
• What they did: Field experiments on China's Loess Plateau compared bare soil, pure plant patches, and coexistence patches, measuring total SOC, labile (LOC), and recalcitrant (ROC) fractions, along with environmental factors.
• The result: Coexistence patches increased SOC and its fractions compared to bare soil but reduced overall SOC stability relative to pure plant patches, mainly by boosting LOC and microbial diversity through higher soil moisture.