Land use affects temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon decomposition in macroaggregates but not in bulk soils in subtropical Oxisols of Queensland, Australia

Abstract The turnover of soil organic carbon (SOC) under different land uses plays an important role in terrestrial carbon (C) cycling. However, the effects of warming on C decomposition dynamics have not been resolved due to seemingly inconsistent results among different experiments. Hence, the objective of this work was to assess soil aggregate-associated C and temperature sensitivity of SOC decomposition within bulk soils and aggregates under two contrasting land management systems in subtropical southern Queensland.We examined the temperature sensitivity of SOC decomposition (Q10) and activation energy required for soil C mineralization (Ea) from bulk soils (