Abstract: Soil organic carbon is a significant component of the earth's carbon reservoir, and its storage and fluxes play a major role in the globe budget of carbon. This paper reviewed the advances of domestic and overseas studies on the estimation of soil organic carbon pool, the influence of natural factors and anthropomorphic disturbances including land use/cover changes, over-grazing, agricultural practices and rises of CO₂ on soil organic carbon storages. In addition, the effects of soil organic carbon on soil quality and environment regulation, some strategies of sequestering C in soil were presented. The significance of studies on soil organic carbon changes and its ecological effects were discussed.

Key words: soil organic carbon, storage, influencing factors, soil and environment quality, carbon sequestration