This is an important forum article highlighting the lack of awareness into plant physiology in global soil carbon research. This issue is highly relevant as much of soil carbon cycling is driven by plant activity, in particular in the rhizosphere or related to plant symbionts. Their results are clear—the large majority of soil carbon studies do not include plant physiology even though a plant physiological perspective could provide novel or more mechanistic insights on soil carbon processes and could inform a new direction in soil carbon modelling.

This article demonstrates that soil mineralogy, not just clay content, determines the radiocaesium interception potential of soils, i.e. the absorption of 137Cs and hence its bioavailability. It, therefore, highlights the need for recalibration of existing 137Cs bioavailability models to predict regional contamination risk, but also the need for more careful soil analysis at the regional scale.