Delgado-Baquerizo, ManuelGarcia-Palacios, PabloBradford, Mark A.Eldridge, David J.Berdugo, MiguelSaez-Sandino, TadeoLiu, Yu-RongAlfaro, Fernando D.Abades, SebastianBamigboye, Adebola R.Bastida, FelipeBlanco-Pastor, Jose L.Duran, JorgeGaitan, Juan J.Illan, Javier G.Grebenc, TineMakhalanyane, Thulani PeterJaiswal, Durgesh KumarNahberger, Tina U.Penaloza-Bojaca, Gabriel F.Rey, AnaRodriguez, AlexandraSiebe, ChristinaTeixido, Alberto L.Sun, WeiTrivedi, PankajVerma, Jay PrakashWang, LingWang, JianyongYang, TianxueZaady, EliZhou, XiaobingZhou, Xin-QuanPlaza, Cesar2024-06-252024-06-252023-05Delgado-Baquerizo, M., García-Palacios, P., Bradford, M.A. et al. Biogenic factors explain soil carbon in paired urban and natural ecosystems worldwide. Nature Climate Change 13, 450–455 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01646-z.1758-678X (print)1758-6798 (online)10.1038/s41558-023-01646-zhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/96642DATA AVAILABILITY : The raw data associated with this study are available in https://figshare.com/s/1eadef6619e74a8f2904 (https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21025615).Urban greenspaces support multiple nature-based services, many of which depend on the amount of soil carbon (C). Yet, the environmental drivers of soil C and its sensitivity to warming are still poorly understood globally. Here we use soil samples from 56 paired urban greenspaces and natural ecosystems worldwide and combine soil C concentration and size fractionation measures with metagenomics and warming incubations. We show that surface soils in urban and natural ecosystems sustain similar C concentrations that follow comparable negative relationships with temperature. Plant productivity’s contribution to explaining soil C was higher in natural ecosystems, while in urban ecosystems, the soil microbial biomass had the greatest explanatory power. Moreover, the soil microbiome supported a faster C mineralization rate with experimental warming in urban greenspaces compared with natural ecosystems. Consequently, urban management strategies should consider the soil microbiome to maintain soil C and related ecosystem services.enNature Publishing Group [6 months embargo]Climate-change ecologyEcosystem services (ES)Urban ecologySDG-15: Life on landPreprint Article