New open-source tool to model forest soil responses to climate and management changes
Researchers and forest managers can now simulate the impacts of climate change and management practices on soil carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions using the open-source me4soc tool.
A new web application developed within HoliSoils is making advanced soil carbon modelling accessible to non-specialists. Called me4soc (Multi-model Ensemble Interface for Soil Organic Carbon Predictions), it enables researchers, forest managers, and greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory teams to simulate how forest soil carbon stocks and GHG fluxes may evolve under different climate, land-use, and management scenarios.
Forest soils store more carbon than vegetation and the atmosphere combined, yet this carbon is vulnerable to losses caused by climate change, disturbances, and intensive management. The tool, which is free and open-source, brings together six established models, namely Century, RothC, ICBM, Yasso07, Yasso20, and an empirical GHG flux model. This allows users to compare outputs and assess the uncertainty associated with model structure, rather than relying on a single prediction.
The me4soc tool can use either user-supplied data or information automatically retrieved from open-access databases for European sites. It helps users explore the potential impacts of management practices, such as thinning, clear-cutting, and residue retention, under different climate scenarios. According to its developers, me4soc is intended to support scenario exploration rather than provide calibrated forecasts, and its outputs should be validated using site-specific data.
Tool: http://me4soc.geologie.ens.fr/
Full reference
Bruni, E., Lehtonen, A., Hashimoto, S., Ťupek, B., Bacha, N., Bunker, D., Brasselet-Darracq, I., Fages-Gouyou, D., Hemeray, Y., Reyer, C. P. O., Sierra, C. A., & Guenet, B. (2026). me4soc: A multi-model ensemble interface for soil organic carbon predictions. Ecological Modelling, 521, 111716.
