1 Introduction Soil organic carbon (SOC), the largest carbon reservoir in terrestrial ecosystems, plays a central role in regulating global biogeochemical cycles and stabilizing the Earth’s climate system (Crowther et al., 2016; Lal, 2004; Schmidt et al., 2011). Even small changes in SOC stocks can substantially influence atmospheric CO2 concentrations, highlighting the critical importance of soil carbon management for climate change mitigation (Minich et al., 2026; J. Wu et al., 2024; F.
