The breakdown of plant material fuels soil functioning and biodiversity. Currently, process understanding of global decomposition patterns and the drivers of such patterns are hampered by the lack of coherent large-scale datasets. We buried 36,000 individual litterbags (tea bags) worldwide and found an overall negative correlation between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization factors of plant-derived carbon, using the Tea Bag Index (TBI). The stabilization factor quantifies the degree to which easy-to-degrade components accumulate during early-stage decomposition (e.g. by environmental limitations). However, agriculture and an interaction between moisture and temperature led to a decoupling between initial mass-loss rates and stabilization, notably in colder locations. Using TBI improved mass-loss estimates of natural litter compared to models that ignored stabilization. Ignoring the transformation of dead plant material to more recalcitrant substances during early-stage decomposition, and the environmental control of this transformation, could overestimate carbon losses during early decomposition in carbon cycle models.

All Russian Institute of Sugar and Sygar Beet Named after D Mazlumov Ramon Russia

All Russian Research Institute of Agrochemistry Named after D Pryanishnikov Moscow Russia

Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training Camino de Purchil Granada Spain

Applied Ecology Research Group School of Life Sciences Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge UK

Belgorod Federal Agrarain Scientific Center Belgorod Russia

Biological Institute Tomsk State University Tomsk Russia

Biont Research Utrecht The Netherlands

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Cleveland Ohio USA

Cátedra de Ecología Facultad de Agronomía UBA Buenos Aires Argentina

CEFE Univ Montpellier CNRS EPHE IRD Montpellier France

Center for Ecosystem Science and Society Northern Arizona University Flagstaff Arizona USA

Center for Energy Environment and Sustainability Department of Biology Wake Forest University Winston Salem North Carolina USA

Center for Permafrost Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark

Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science Lowestoft UK

Centre for Forest Protection Forest Research Surrey UK

Centro de Investigación e Innovación para el Cambio Climático Universidad Santo Tomás Valdivia Chile

Chelyabinsk Agricultural Institute Chelyabinsk Russia

Chicago Botanic Garden Glencoe Illinois USA

College of Urban and Environmental Sciences Sino French Institute for Earth System Science Institute of Carbon Neutrality Peking University Beijing China

Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria Rome Italy

Departamento de Ecologia e Zoologia Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis SC Brazil

Departamento de Genética Ecologia and Evolução ICB Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte MG Brazil

Departamento de Solos e Engenharia Agrícola Universidade Federal do Paraná Curitiba Brasil

Departement of Physical Geography and Geoecology Faculty of Science Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Department for Soil Health and Plant Nutrition Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety Vienna Austria

Department of Agronomy Iowa State University Ames Iowa USA

Department of Applied Ecology Hochschule Geisenheim University Geisenheim Germany

Department of Arctic and Marine Biology Faculty of Biosciences Fisheries and Economics The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway

Department of Arctic Biology The University Centre in Svalbard Longyearbyen Svalbard Norway

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden

Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences University of Bologna Bologna Italy

Department of Biological Sciences and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research University of Bergen Bergen Norway

Department of Biological Sciences Universidad de los Andes Bogotá Colombia

Department of Biology IVAGRO University of Cádiz Campus de Excelencia Internacional Agroalimentario Cádiz Spain

Department of Biology Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway

Department of Biology University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Ø Denmark

Department of Chemistry Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability University of Parma Parma Italy

Department of Earth System Science University of California Irvine California USA

Department of Ecology and Environmental Science Umeå Universitet Umeå Sweden

Department of Ecology and Plant Geography Biological Faculty Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow Russia

Department of Ecology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala Sweden

Department of Ecology University of Alicante Alicante Spain

Department of Ecoscience and Arctic Research Centre Aarhus University Aarhus C Denmark

Department of Environment Forest and Nature Lab Gent University Ghent Belgium

Department of Environmental Systems Science ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland

Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Integrative Biology ETH Zürich Zurich Switzerland

Department of European and Mediterranean Cultures Architecture Environment Cultural Heritage University of Basilicata Matera Italy

Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences Faculty of Forestry Forest Sciences Centre University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

Department of Forest Ecology and Management Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Sweden

Department of Forest Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecophysiology Institute of Botany aft A L Takhtajyan NAS of RA Yerevan Armenia

Department of Geography and Environmental Science University of Reading Reading UK

Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark

Department of Habitat Ecology Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun India

Department of Natural Resource Management College of Agriculture and Environmental University of Gondar Gondar Ethiopia

Department of Natural Systems and Resources Universidad Politécnica de Madrid Madrid Spain

Department of Renewable Resources Faculty of Agricultural Life and Environmental Science University of Alberta Edmonton Alberta Canada

Department of Wildland Resources Quinney College of Natural Resources and Ecology Center Utah State University Logan Utah USA

Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation University of Florida Gainesville Florida USA

Earth Research Institute University of California Santa Barbara California USA

Ecological Science Department The James Hutton Institute Aberdeen UK

Ecology and Biodiversity Group Institute of Environmental Biology Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands

Environmental Science Center Qatar University Doha Qatar

Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences Agricultural University of Iceland Reykjavík Iceland

Faculty of Technology Natural Sciences and Maritime Sciences University of South Eastern Notodden Norway

Federal Scientific Center for Fiber Crops Tver Russia

Finnish Meteorological Institute Climate System Research Helsinki Finland

Forest Research Surrey UK

Forest Services Autonomous Province of Bozen Bolzano Bolzano Italy

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ Leipzig Germany

INRAE Bordeaux Sciences Agro ISPA Villenave d'Ornon France

Institute for Applied Plant Biology Witterswil Switzerland

Institute for Sustainable Agriculture CSIC Cordoba Spain

Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology TUD Dresden University of Technology Tharandt Germany

Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Iceland Reykjavík Iceland

Institute of Plant Science and Genetics in Agriculture The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Rehovot Israel

Institute of Plant Science and Microbiology Universität Hamburg Hamburg Germany

Institute of Science and Environment University of Cumbria Ambleside Cumbria UK

Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas Universidad Austral de Chile Valdivia Chile

Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura Facultad de Agronomía Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET Buenos Aires Argentina

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Laxenburg Austria

Knowledge Center for Biodiversity Belo Horizonte MG Brazil

Libera Universita di Bolzano Facoltà di Scienze e Tecnologie Piazza Università Bolzano Italy

Multidisciplinary Institute for Environmental Studies Ramon Margalef IMEM University of Alicante Alicante Spain

National Horticultural Research Institute Ibadan Nigeria

National Research Council of Italy Institute for Agriculture and Forestry Systems in the Mediterranean Naples Italy

NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research Bergen Norway

Programa de pós graduacão em Ecologia Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina Florianópolis SC Brazil

Research Group Plants and Ecosystems University of Antwerp Wilrijk Belgium

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Frick Switzerland

School of Agriculture Food and Wine The University of Adelaide Adelaide South Australia Australia

School of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg South Africa

School of Anthropology and Conservation Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology University of Kent Canterbury UK

School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine University of Camerino Camerino MC Italy

School of Environmental and Conservation Sciences Murdoch University Murdoch Western Australia Australia

School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Norwich UK

School of GeoSciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh Scotland UK

School of Science Technology and Engineering The University of the Sunshine Coast Maroochydore Queensland Australia

Science IT University of Zürich Zurich Switzerland

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center Edgewater Maryland USA

Soil Biology and Plant Nutrition Faculty of Organic Agricultural Sciences University of Kassel Witzenhausen Germany

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Zurich Switzerland

Terrestrial Ecology Section Department of Biology University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Ø Denmark

UMR Silva INRAE AgroParisTech Université de Lorraine Nancy France

Universidad de Los Andes Bogotá Colombia

Upper Volga Federal Agrarain Scientific Center Vladimir Russia

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station Athens Georgia USA

USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station New Ellenton South Carolina USA

Valli Sustainability Research and Education Kanchipuram Tamil Nadu India

Wageningen Environmental Research Wageningen The Netherlands

Yugra State University Khanty Mansiysk Russia

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