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Diverse grasslands can put more carbon into soil because different plant species collectively produce more foliage, roots and rhizosphere exudates than many species-poor stands. Microbes process those inputs; part is converted into soil organic matter and microbial residues that can remain underground. Long-term experiments support this chain, but the size of the gain depends on species composition, climate, soil nitrogen, depth and management. Diversity is therefore a useful restoration strategy, not a guaranteed carbon credit at every site.
What “absorbing and storing carbon” means in a grassland
Plants absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis and incorporate the carbon into leaves, stems and roots. Some of that carbon returns to the atmosphere quickly when tissues respire or decompose. The longer-lived pool is mainly below ground: soil organic matter, particulate plant residues and carbon contained in microbial products and dead microbial cells.
Aboveground biomass is visible, but it is only a temporary pool unless it is incorporated into soil. Soil measurements therefore matter most for claims about long-term storage. Researchers report either a carbon stock (how much carbon is present in a defined soil layer at a given time) or a storage/sequestration rate (how quickly that stock changes). Those are different quantities and cannot be substituted for one another.
How plant diversity can increase soil carbon
More complete use of light, water and nutrients
Species differ in height, rooting depth, growing season and nutrient demand. A mixed community can occupy more of the available light and soil profile than a monoculture. That complementarity can raise total plant production without requiring every species to grow faster on its own. More production means more carbon enters the system as litter, roots and compounds released by living roots.
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Roots deliver carbon directly below ground
Roots die, are replaced and release soluble compounds into the rhizosphere. These inputs feed fungi and bacteria close to the root surface. Root biomass is especially important because it places carbon in soil rather than leaving all new carbon in short-lived shoots. In the 22-year Minnesota restoration experiment, the treatments that stored more carbon also had greater aboveground production and root biomass.
Microbes transform plant inputs into persistent material
Microbial consumers use plant compounds for energy and growth. Some carbon is respired as carbon dioxide, but some becomes microbial biomass and then microbial residues when cells die. Those residues can bind to minerals or become part of soil aggregates, slowing decomposition. A 2026 alpine-grassland survey found that bacterial and fungal microbial-necromass carbon increased with plant species richness, with a stronger pattern in topsoil than subsoil; the study’s analysis identified plant carbon inputs as the primary driver.
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Composition matters as much as the species count
“More species” is not a complete description of a grassland. Functional traits determine how much carbon enters soil and how decomposable it is. The Minnesota experiment highlighted mixtures that included C4 grasses and legumes among the higher-storage communities. Legumes can add biologically fixed nitrogen, while C4 grasses often contribute substantial biomass under warm-season conditions. A species-rich mix lacking productive or complementary functional groups may not reproduce that result.
Organic-matter quality controls what remains
Equal quantities of plant residue do not necessarily create equal soil-carbon gains. Tissue chemistry, root compounds, microbial processing and mineral protection influence whether carbon is rapidly respired or retained. A 2023 study reported that organic-matter quality helped explain diversity–carbon patterns in its data, alongside climate. Its sites were not experimentally manipulated, so the result identifies an important context and mechanism rather than proving a universal causal effect.
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What long-term studies actually found
| Study | Design and setting | Reported result | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yang et al., Nature Communications (2019) | 22-year Minnesota grassland restoration experiment; planted richness compared with monocultures; soil sampled through 0–60 cm | The 16-species treatment stored 178% more soil carbon in the full 0–60 cm profile than monocultures over the experiment. Storage rates rose through time and generally with planted richness. | A strong, site-specific experimental result associated with production, roots and particular species combinations. It is not a forecast that every 16-species planting will gain 178%. |
| Lange et al., Nature Communications (2015) | Nine years of The Jena Experiment after conversion from ploughed arable field to permanent grassland; radiocarbon modelling and topsoil measurements | Average carbon concentration in 0–5 cm topsoil rose 27% to 4.74 ± 0.28 g/kg. Greater diversity was linked to increased rhizosphere inputs and microbial activity, and modelled accumulation of recently fixed carbon. | The increase followed land-use conversion as well as changes in diversity; the entire 27% cannot be assigned to diversity alone. Measurements and modelling focused on topsoil dynamics. |
| Nature Communications study (2023) | Cross-site analysis examining climate and soil-carbon relationships | The positive diversity effect depended on climate, and organic-matter quality helped explain the observed pattern. | Useful evidence that local conditions and carbon chemistry modify the relationship. The study was not a diversity-manipulation experiment. |
| Niu et al., Communications Earth & Environment (2026) | Survey along a 3,000-km transect of natural alpine grasslands | Bacterial and fungal microbial-necromass carbon increased with richness, more strongly in topsoil than subsoil; plant carbon inputs were the primary driver in the analysis. | Recent evidence for a microbial-residue pathway in alpine systems. A transect survey does not establish that adding species would cause the same change elsewhere. |
| Global analysis, Communications Biology (2025) | Data from 116 grasslands; relationships among biomass, abiotic factors and diversity | The diversity–biomass relationship was positive at low soil nitrogen but negative at elevated nitrogen in the reported analysis; biomass responses to environmental factors were unimodal. | Carbon gains cannot be assumed to rise linearly with richness or fertilizer availability. Nitrogen status can change the direction or strength of the biomass response. |
Why the effect is not guaranteed at every site
Climate changes growth and decomposition
Temperature and precipitation control both plant production and microbial decomposition. A diverse community may add more carbon in one climate but receive little benefit where water limits growth or where warm, wet conditions accelerate decomposition. Seasonal timing also matters: species that extend the growing season can increase annual inputs, while drought can suppress the complementarity that would otherwise raise production.
Soil nitrogen can reverse the biomass pattern
The 2025 global analysis of 116 grasslands found a positive diversity–biomass relationship at low nitrogen but a negative one at elevated nitrogen. This does not mean nitrogen always harms diverse grasslands; it means nutrient context changes competition and the observed relationship. Fertilizing a species-rich restoration to chase more biomass could favor a few fast growers, reduce coexistence and produce a different carbon outcome.
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Topsoil and subsoil behave differently
Carbon concentration in the upper few centimetres can change relatively quickly, while deeper carbon may accumulate more slowly and be protected by different mineral and root processes. The Jena result is for 0–5 cm topsoil, whereas the Minnesota stock comparison covers 0–60 cm. The alpine transect found a stronger richness signal in topsoil than subsoil. Any claim should state the sampled depth.
Stocks, rates and baselines are easy to confuse
A percentage difference in a final stock is not an annual removal rate. A rate can decline as soil approaches a new equilibrium even while the total stock remains higher. Baseline land use also matters: converting ploughed arable soil to permanent grassland can produce a substantial early change, as in Jena, independent of the later contribution of species richness.
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How to apply the evidence in a restoration project
Restoration can use diversity as one design objective, while treating carbon as a measured outcome rather than a guaranteed specification.
- Define the local reference. Record current vegetation, soil texture, organic carbon, total nitrogen, pH, moisture regime and management history. Decide whether success means a larger stock, a positive multi-year rate or both.
- Choose locally appropriate functional groups. Build a native mix suited to the site’s climate, drainage and soil. Include species with complementary rooting depths and seasons where the regional flora supports them. Do not copy the Minnesota species list into a different ecosystem.
- Match seed sources and establishment methods to ecology. A retail “native prairie seed mix” is only a starting material; verify local provenance, viable-seed percentages, invasive-species controls and seeding dates. Purchase alone cannot specify a carbon result.
- Manage for persistence, not a one-year biomass peak. Use the disturbance regime appropriate to the grassland, such as carefully timed mowing, grazing or prescribed fire where locally accepted. Avoid management that removes most standing residue or repeatedly damages developing roots.
- Measure vegetation and soil together. Track species richness, cover, aboveground production and root biomass, then sample soil on a fixed grid and at fixed depths. Use bulk density so concentrations can be converted to stocks. Repeated sampling over several years is needed to distinguish a real trend from spatial variability.
- Report uncertainty and context. State the climate, nitrogen status, depth, baseline land use, sampling interval and whether the evidence is experimental or observational. Compare the project with its own baseline and an appropriate reference area instead of importing a percentage from another experiment.
Common mistakes when interpreting diversity and carbon
- “More species always means more carbon.” Richness is only one predictor; composition, functional traits, climate and soil nutrients can dominate the outcome.
- “The 178% figure is a universal restoration expectation.” It belongs to one 22-year Minnesota experiment, one depth range and defined treatments.
- “Topsoil concentration equals whole-profile storage.” Concentration must be paired with bulk density and depth, and shallow changes do not describe deeper soil.
- “All added plant carbon remains in soil.” Microbes respire much of the input. Retention depends on residue chemistry, microbial residues, minerals and aggregation.
- “An observational association proves that seeding more species caused the gain.” Transect and cross-site studies reveal context and mechanisms but cannot isolate the effect of an intervention as cleanly as a controlled experiment.
- “Biomass is the same as durable storage.” Annual shoots can disappear or decompose quickly; durable claims require soil-carbon measurements and a stated time horizon.
What a defensible carbon claim looks like
A careful statement identifies the intervention, comparison, soil depth, duration and evidence type: for example, “In a 22-year Minnesota restoration experiment, the 16-species plots stored 178% more carbon in 0–60 cm soil than monocultures.” A weak statement removes those qualifiers and presents the number as a general rate for all grasslands. For projects outside the tested climate or soil, describe diverse planting as a plausible pathway and monitor the result rather than promising a fixed tonne-per-hectare outcome.
The evidence supports a coherent mechanism: diverse plants can increase and diversify carbon inputs, roots and rhizosphere activity; microbes convert part of those inputs into organic matter and necromass; and some products are stabilized in soil. Whether that chain produces a measurable net gain depends on local climate, nitrogen, soil properties, species composition, management and the years over which the soil is measured.
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