Bioenergetic control of soil carbon dynamics across depth

Soil carbon dynamics is strongly controlled by depth globally, with increasingly slow dynamics found at depth. The mechanistic basis remains however controversial, limiting our ability to predict carbon cycle-climate feedbacks. Combining radiocarbon and thermal analyses with long-term incubations in absence/presence of continuously 13C/14C-labelled plants, we show here that bioenergetic constraints of decomposers consistently drive the depth-dependency of soil carbon dynamics over a range of mineral reactivity contexts. The slow dynamics of subsoil carbon was tightly related to both its low energy density and high activation energy of decomposition, leading to an unfavorable ‘return-on-energy-investment’ for decomposers. We also observed strong acceleration of millennia-old subsoil carbon decomposition induced by roots (‘rhizosphere priming’), showing that sufficient supply of energy by roots is able to alleviate the strong energy limitation of decomposition. These findings demonstrate that subsoil carbon persistence results from its poor energy quality together with the lack of energy supply by roots due to their low density at depth. These findings provide insights into the bioenergetic control of SOC persistence and indicate that an increase in plant rooting depth induced by global change could threaten the storage of millennia-old SOC in deep layers.