Forest Conversion Changes Soil Particulate Organic Carbon and Mineral-Associated Organic Carbon via Plant Inputs and Microbial Processes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this study, studies on how primary forest conversion greatly affects soil organic matter sequestration and how soil organic carbon conversion affects fractions and chemicals are insufficient. In this study, the primary forest conversion was investigated and the change on microbial properties to secondary broadleaf forest and coniferous afforestation was investigated. As a result of the study, the main parts such as the change in the soil organic carbon microbial community were examined in detail.

In general, the work conforms to the concept of the magazine and is well-structured. However, a few corrections need to be made before the article is accepted.

Specific comments:

1-  I have found that even some of sentences are interesting, some of them make no sense such as these below sentences are needed rephrases

a-  Climate change and human disturbance have led to more primary forests 40 being converted into plantations, secondary forests, and other land uses (Gibson et al.,  2011; Han and Zhu, 2020; Li et al., 2023). It causes a reduction in soil organic carbon  (SOC) storage and changes the formation pathway and stability of SOC, greatly affecting  2 of 19 2 SOC sequestration (Lin et al., 2018; Luo et al., 2020).

b-  Tropical primary forests converted to rubber plantations reduced POC and MAOC due to plant C input depletion, while those converted to sec ondary forests increased POC and decreased MAOC, probably because of stimulated  decomposition of fresh C input and a stable C pool (Li et al., 2023).

c- The  evenness of diverse SOC chemical components represents potential resistance to degra- 84 dation under disturbances, a higher evenness of chemical components, and a lower risk  of SOC loss from environmental change (Wang et al., 2023). A higher evenness of chemical components causes stronger SOC persistence by increasing the cost‒benefit ratio of  microorganisms consuming these molecules (Lehmann et al., 2020)

2- I have found fine that  the used tables are figures associated statistical analyeses with letterings. In addition to this, ıf possible discuss little bit more obtained results. 

3- Conclusion remark is missed. Please add your future recommandation.

Best regards

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript entitled ‘’Forest conversion changes soil particulate organic carbon and mineral-associated organic carbon via plant inputs and microbial processes’’ is an interesting work with some valuable findings in zeolite. However, there are some points that need to be improved before further process.

- Reference citation in the manuscript is not correct. It must be numbered in brackets. Please see instructions for authors.

- lines 40-46: Regard to effect of land uses on carbon cycle here is a new published work suggested to add it here:  https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020459

-material and method well described!

- Please add some values of changes in percentage in the conclusion section.

- Please check the reference style. Current version is not based on MDPI instruction.

Good luck!

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx