Vegetation sits at the interface between the global atmosphere and the soil, where it effectively transfers carbon as organic detritus from the stock in the atmosphere to the stock in the soil. Forests in particular bring about this transfer in a very effective manner, with the result that large amounts of carbon have accumulated in the soil within many forests over thousands of years. The increase in atmospheric CO₂, and the likely increase in global temperatures that will result, is expected to alter the distribution of carbon between atmosphere, vegetation, and soils. Organic carbon and nitrogen contents were determined by dry combustion using an automated carbon-nitrogen-sulphur elemental analyser. Because of the complexity of the processes leading to carbon accumulation, soil carbon stocks vary from place to place and over many spatial scales, from the very local micropatch to the landscape and the regional scales.