Soil Carbon Sequestration Following Natural Vegetation Recovery on Abandoned European Lands: Review and Research Needs

This dataset contains site-level data compiled from published studies on soil organic carbon stock changes after agricultural land abandonment across Europe. A systematic literature search was conducted in June 2024 using Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus, with additional studies identified from relevant review/report sources. Studies were included when they reported SOC stock together with time since abandonment, provided comparable soil depth information, included a suitable control or recently abandoned site, and represented abandoned agricultural land without continued post-abandonment management. After screening more than 200 manuscripts, 36 studies met the inclusion criteria. The final dataset includes 267 unique observations, excluding control sites. Extracted variables include SOC stock, time since abandonment, coordinates where available, biogeographical region, previous land use, study design, forest type, soil reference group, and aspect. The dataset was used to analyse relative changes in SOC stocks following natural vegetation recovery on abandoned European agricultural lands.