The application of biochar (biomass-derived black carbon) to soil has been shown to improve crop yields, but the reasons for this are often not clearly demonstrated. Here, we studied the effect of a single application of 0, 8 and 20 t ha

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[1] Large Amazonian rivers are known to emit substantial amounts of CO 2 to the atmosphere, while the magnitude of CO 2 degassing from small streams remains a major unknown in regional carbon budgets. We found that 77% of carbon transported by water from the landscape was as terrestrially-respired CO 2 dissolved within soils, over 90% of which evaded to the atmosphere within headwater reaches of streams. Hydrologic transport of dissolved CO 2 was equivalent to nearly half the gaseous CO 2 contributions from deep soil (>2 m) to respiration at the soil surface. Dissolved CO 2 in emergent groundwater was isotopically consistent with soil respiration, and demonstrated strong agreement with deep soil CO 2 concentrations and seasonal dynamics. During wet seasons, deep soil (2 -8 m) CO 2 concentration profiles indicated gaseous diffusion to deeper layers, thereby enhancing CO 2 drainage to streams. Groundwater discharge of CO 2 and its subsequent evasion is a significant conduit for terrestrially-respired carbon in tropical headwater catchments. Citation: Johnson, M. S.,

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In the highlands of Western Kenya, we investigated the reversibility of soil productivity decline with increasing length of continuous maize cultivation over 100 years (corresponding to decreasing soil organic carbon (SOC) and nutrient contents) using organic matter additions of differing quality and stability as a function of soil texture and inorganic nitrogen (N) additions. The ability of additions of labile organic matter (green and animal manure) to improve productivity primarily by enhanced nutrient availability was contrasted with the ability of stable organic matter (biochar and sawdust) to improve productivity by enhancing SOC. Maize productivity declined by 66% during the first 35 years of continuous cropping after forest clearing. Productivity remained at a low level of 3.0 t grain ha -1 across the chronosequence stretching up to 105 years of continuous cultivation despite full N-phosphorus (P)-potassium (K) fertilization (120-100-100 kg ha )1 ). Application of organic resources reversed the productivity decline by increasing yields by 57-167%, whereby responses to nutrient-rich green manure were 110% greater than those from nutrient-poor sawdust. Productivity at the most degraded sites (80-105 years since forest clearing) increased in response to green manure to a greater extent than the yields at the least degraded sites (5 years since forest clearing), both with full N-P-K fertilization. Biochar additions at the most degraded sites doubled maize yield (equaling responses to green manure additions in some instances) that were not fully explained by nutrient availability, suggesting improvement of factors other than plant nutrition. There was no detectable influence of texture (soils with either 11-14 or 45-49% clay) when low quality organic matter was applied (sawdust, biochar), whereas productivity was 8, 15, and 39% greater (P < 0.05) on sandier than heavier textured soils with high quality organic matter (green and animal manure) or only inorganic nutrient additions, respectively. Across the entire degradation range, organic matter additions decreased the need for additional inorganic fertilizer N irrespective of the quality of the organic matter. For low quality organic resources (biochar and sawdust), crop yields were increasingly responsive to inorganic N fertilization with increasing soil degradation. On the other hand, fertilizer N additions did not 726improve soil productivity when high quality organic inputs were applied. Even with the tested full N-P-K fertilization, adding organic matter to soil was required for restoring soil productivity and most effective in the most degraded sites through both nutrient delivery (with green manure) and improvement of SOC (with biochar).

Abstract. Over the past three decades, large expanses of forest in the Amazon Basin were converted to pasture, many of which later degraded to woody fallows and were abandoned. While the majority of tropical secondary forest (SF) studies have examined post-deforestation or post-agricultural succession, we examined post-pasture forest recovery in 10 forests ranging in age from 0 to 14 years since abandonment. We measured aboveground biomass and soil nutrients to 45 cm depth and computed total site carbon (C) and nutrient stocks to gain an understanding of the dynamics of nutrient and C buildup in regenerating SF in central Amazonia.Aboveground biomass accrual was rapid, 11.0 Mg·ha Ϫ1 ·yr Ϫ1, in the young SFs. Within 12-14 yr, they accumulated up to 128.1 Mg/ha of dry aboveground biomass, equivalent to 25-50% of primary forest biomass in the region. Wood nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations decreased with forest age. Aboveground P and calcium (Ca) stocks accumulated at a rate of 1.2 and 29.4 kg·ha Ϫ1 ·yr Ϫ1 ; extractable soil P stocks declined as forest age increased. Although soil stocks of exchangeable Ca (207.0 Ϯ 23.7 kg/ha) and extractable P (8.3 Ϯ 1.5 kg/ha) were low in the first 45 cm, both were rapidly translocated from soil to plant pools. Soil N stocks increased with forest age, probably due to N fixation, atmospheric deposition, and/or subsoil mining.Total soil C storage to 45 cm depth ranged between 42 and 84 Mg/ha, with the first 15 cm storing 40-45% of the total. Total C accrual (7.04 Mg C·ha Ϫ1 ·yr Ϫ1 ) in both aboveground and soil pools was similar or higher than values reported in other studies. Tropical SFs regrowing on lightly to moderately used pasture rapidly sequester C and rebuild total nutrient capital following pasture abandonment. Translocation of some nutrients from deep soil (Ͼ45 cm depth) may be important to sustaining productivity and continuing biomass accumulation in these forests. The soil pool represents the greatest potential for long-term C gains; however, soil nutrient deficits may limit future productivity.

Anthropogenic perturbations have profoundly modified the Earth's biogeochemical cycles, the most prominent of these changes being manifested by global carbon (C) cycling. We investigated long-term effects of human-induced land-use and land-cover changes from native tropical forest (Kenya) and subtropical grassland (South Africa) ecosystems to agriculture on the dynamics and structural composition of soil organic C (SOC) using elemental analysis and integrated 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (Sr-FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy. Anthropogenic interventions led to the depletion of 76%, 86% and 67% of the total SOC; and 77%, 85% and 66% of the N concentrations from the surface soils of Nandi, Kakamega and the South African sites, respectively, over a period of up to 100 years. Significant proportions of the total SOC (46-73%) and N (37-73%) losses occurred during the first 4 years of conversion indicating that these forest-and grassland-derived soils contain large amounts of labile soil organic matter (SOM), potentially vulnerable to degradation upon human-induced land-use and land-cover changes. Anthropogenic perturbations altered not only the C sink capacity of these soils, but also the functional group composition and dynamics of SOC with time, rendering structural composition of the resultant organic matter in the agricultural soils to be considerably different from the SOM under natural forest and grassland ecosystems. These molecular level compositional changes were manifested: (i) by the continued degradation of O-alkyl and acetal-C structures found in carbohydrate and holocellulose biomolecules, some labile aliphatic-C functionalities, (ii) by side-chain oxidation of phenylpropane units of lignin and (iii) by the continued aromatization and aliphatization of the humic fractions possibly through selective accumulation of recalcitrant H and C substituted aryl-C and aliphatic-C components such as (poly)-methylene units, respectively. These changes appeared as early as the fourth year after transition, and their intensity increased with duration of cultivation until a new quasi-equilibrium of SOC was approached at about 20 years after conversion. However, subtle but persistent changes in molecular structures of the resultant SOM continued long after (up to 100 years) a steady state for SOC was approached. These molecular level changes in the inherent structural composition of SOC may exert considerable influence on biogeochemical cycling of C and bioavailability of essential nutrients present in association with SOM, and may significantly affect the sustainability of agriculture as well as potentials of the soils to sequester C in these tropical and subtropical highland agroecosystems.