Land Use and Land Cover Transitions in Mountainous Landscapes: A Systematic Review of Soil Carbon Dynamics, Challenges, and Research Perspectives

Abstract

Globally, land use and land cover (LULC) change is a major driver of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in mountainous ecosystems, where steep slopes, shallow soils, and strong climatic gradients amplify land use impacts. This review systematically synthesises empirical evidence regarding how LULC transitions influence SOC dynamics in mountainous landscapes, with particular emphasis on dominant trends, underlying mechanisms, methodological bottlenecks, and future research perspectives. Following PRISMA guidelines, we evaluated 30 carefully screened peer-reviewed studies that explicitly link temporal LULC change to carbon dynamics in mountainous environments. The results show SOC losses across most LULC transitions, especially following forest and rangeland conversion to cropland and built-up land. In contrast, SOC recovery is time-lagged, partial, and often decoupled from rapid aboveground biomass recovery. Methodologically, while static carbon models (e.g., InVEST) are demonstrated to systematically underrepresent lateral erosion-driven SOC losses, they have been highly adopted in the synthesised studies, highlighting their practical scalability in data-scarce and complex mountain terrains. Finally, the synthesis reveals a strong geographic bias in the literature, with most studies emerging from Asia, highlighting substantial knowledge gaps in other regions. Prioritising empirical multidecadal SOC monitoring in highly vulnerable and underrepresented regions, such as African mountainous systems, where socioeconomic pressures are expected to intensify, is critical for developing integrative, evidence-based strategies for sustainable land management under accelerating LULC change.