Modelling and validating soil carbon dynamics at the long-term plot scale using the rCTOOL R package

Abstract

We introduce rCTOOL, an open-source R package for carbon (C) turnover modelling, featuring comprehensive documentation and a user-friendly interface. As an enhanced version of the widely used Danish C-TOOL model, rCTOOL maintains minimal input data requirements and reliable performance, while addressing the original model's limitations in openness and documentation. To validate rCTOOL, we analysed topsoil Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) dynamics using data from the long-term Askov straw disposal experiment (1981–2019), which quantifies the impact of varying annual straw C inputs on SOC storage. Our validation shows an unbiased global prediction error of less than 10%, with a mean error of 1.1 Mg C/ha (CI -0.7–3.0 Mg C/ha). The discrepancies between observed and predicted values were primarily due to spatiotemporal variability represented by the block and year in the long-term field experiment. We demonstrate how rCTOOL is a reliable asset for diverse applications in SOC management and research.