000171042 001__ 171042 000171042 005__ 20260505142649.0 000171042 0247_ $$2doi$$a10.1038/s41467-026-70623-9 000171042 0248_ $$2sideral$$a149174 000171042 037__ $$aART-2026-149174 000171042 041__ $$aeng 000171042 100__ $$aWang, Hui 000171042 245__ $$aPersistence and turnover of soil organic carbon in global drylands 000171042 260__ $$c2026 000171042 5060_ $$aAccess copy available to the general public$$fUnrestricted 000171042 5203_ $$aReliable predictions of dryland carbon fluxes require understanding the persistence and turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC). We measure radiocarbon to quantify the age of SOC and CO2 released from soil respiration at 97 dryland sites across six continents. Here we show that bulk SOC contains little C fixed in the past 60 years, while respired CO2 originates from both bomb-derived recent C and millennia-old C, challenging the idea that old C is chemically or physically protected. Radiocarbon suggests mean ages of ~2100 years for bulk SOC and ~520 years for respired CO2, the latter far older than machine-learning (<50 years) or Earth system models predict. Aridity, net primary productivity, and SOC content are dominant predictors for radiocarbon signatures, with abrupt shifts to older C beyond an aridity threshold of ~0.87. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate the vulnerability of older carbon into models and land management strategies. 000171042 536__ $$9info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/647038/EU/Biological feedbacks and ecosystem resilience under global change: a new perspective on dryland desertification/BIODESERT$$9This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 647038-BIODESERT 000171042 540__ $$9info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess$$aby$$uhttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es 000171042 655_4 $$ainfo:eu-repo/semantics/article$$vinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 000171042 700__ $$aMaestre, Fernando T. 000171042 700__ $$aLu, Nan 000171042 700__ $$aZhao, Guang 000171042 700__ $$aZhang, Yangjian 000171042 700__ $$aAsensio, Sergio 000171042 700__ $$aBramble, De Shorn E. 000171042 700__ $$aChen, Weiliang 000171042 700__ $$aDippold, Michaela A. 000171042 700__ $$aEldridge, David J. 000171042 700__ $$aGaitán, Juan J. 000171042 700__ $$aGarcía-Gómez, Miguel 000171042 700__ $$aGozalo, Beatriz 000171042 700__ $$aGross, Nicolas 000171042 700__ $$aGuirado, Emilio 000171042 700__ $$aLe Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann 000171042 700__ $$aMartínez-Valderrama, Jaime 000171042 700__ $$aMendoza, Betty J. 000171042 700__ $$aOchoa, Victoria 000171042 700__ $$aPlaza, César 000171042 700__ $$aSaiz, Hugo$$uUniversidad de Zaragoza 000171042 700__ $$aSchrumpf, Marion 000171042 700__ $$aSierra, Carlos A. 000171042 700__ $$aTangarife-Escobar, Andrés 000171042 700__ $$aValencia, Enrique 000171042 700__ $$avon Fromm, Sophie F. 000171042 700__ $$aWang, Cong 000171042 700__ $$aWang, Kai 000171042 700__ $$aWang, Yunqiang 000171042 700__ $$aZaehle, Sönke 000171042 700__ $$aFu, Bojie 000171042 700__ $$aTrumbore, Susan 000171042 700__ $$aHuang, Jianbei 000171042 7102_ $$15011$$2220$$aUniversidad de Zaragoza$$bDpto. CC.Agrar.y Medio Natural$$cÁrea Ecología 000171042 773__ $$g17, 1 (2026), [10 pp.]$$tNature communications$$x2041-1723 000171042 8564_ $$s3524380$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/171042/files/texto_completo.pdf$$yVersión publicada 000171042 8564_ $$s2613254$$uhttps://zaguan.unizar.es/record/171042/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon$$xicon$$yVersión publicada 000171042 909CO $$ooai:zaguan.unizar.es:171042$$particulos$$pdriver 000171042 951__ $$a2026-05-05-13:36:22 000171042 980__ $$aARTICLE