Fig. 2: Global distribution of observationally derived protected and unprotected soil C stocks as a function of climatological temperature.

a,b, Protected (mineral-associated) (a) and unprotected (particulate) (b) soil C stocks as a function of MAT in regions above 0 °C globally. Linear regressions are shown for cool (<15 °C) and warm (≥15 °C) regions (solid lines) and across all temperatures above 0 °C (dashed lines). c, Climatological temperature sensitivity calculated as the proportional decline of each soil C pool for a 10 °C increase in MAT (analogous to a climatological Q₁₀, but for C stocks) while accounting for potential confounding variables (see ‘Data analysis’ in the Methods). Points depict the proportional decline of each soil C pool (derived from the regression slopes; n = 32,528 gridcells for non-permafrost mineral soils above 0 °C globally, with n = 13,410 in cool regions and n = 19,118 in warm regions), and error bars denote the 95% CIs (Supplementary Table 6). Higher values (>1) indicate greater decreases in C with increasing climatological temperature.