Letter-to-the-Editor: Does acidification really increase soil carbon in croplands? How statistical analyses of large datasets might mislead the conclusions

A recent meta-analysis (Zhang et al., 2020) stated that acidification induced by nitrogen (N) (over)fertilization increases soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation. This Letter disagrees with that statement regarding acidification effects on SOC accumulation. We especially wish to show how processing of large datasets might mislead conclusions, and may have fatal consequences for land management. Another crucial point we wish to raise is that the role of carbonates for carbon stocks and induced CO2 losses to the atmosphere has been completely disregarded in the soil acidification discussion. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.