Accelerated soil carbon turnover under tree plantations limits soil carbon storage

The replacement of native forests by tree plantations is increasingly common globally, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. Improving our understanding of the long-term effects of this replacement on soil organic carbon (SOC) remains paramount for effectively managing ecosystems to mitigate anthropogenic carbon emissions. Meta-analyses imply that native forest replacement usually reduces SOC stocks and may switch the forest from a net sink to a net source of atmospheric carbon. Using a long-term chronosequence during which areas of subtropical native forest were replaced by Chinese fir, we show by direct measurement that plantations have significantly accelerated SOC turnover compared with native forest, an effect that has persisted for almost a century. The immediate stimulation of SOC decomposition was caused by warmer soil before the closure of the plantation’s canopy. Long-term reductions in SOC mean residence times were coupled to litter inputs. Faster SOC decomposition was associated with lower soil microbial carbon use efficiency, which was due to smaller litter inputs and reduced nutrient availabilities. Our results indicate a previously unelucidated control on long-term SOC dynamics in native forests and demonstrate a potential constraint on climate mitigation when such forests are replaced by plantations.