Managing Soil Carbon

Lal, Rattan; Griffin, W. Michael; Apt, Jay; Lave, Lester B.; Morgan, M. Granger

doi:10.1126/science.1093079

Cited by 300 publications

(185 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Soil respiration, a pathway releasing CO 2 from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere (Raich and Tufekcioglu 2000), contains all CO 2 fluxes originated from rhizodeposits, crop litter, and soil organic matter decomposition. A small change of soil respiration can have a large impact on CO 2 concentration in the atmosphere (Lal et al 2004;Grace and Rayment 2000). Hence, soil respiration in agroecosystems is crucial in the global C cycle and C budget.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soils are the vital pools of carbon sequestration in the terrestrial ecosystems, and it is estimated that a global total of 2,500 Gt of C is stored in soils, 3.3 times the amount of C stored in the atmosphere and 4.5 times the amount of C stored in biotic pool (Lal et al 2004). In a global scale, a total of 75 Pg of C has been emitted annually (Schlesinger and Andrews 2000), with a large portion of the emission from agriculture (Lal et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a global scale, a total of 75 Pg of C has been emitted annually (Schlesinger and Andrews 2000), with a large portion of the emission from agriculture (Lal et al 2004). Soil respiration, a pathway releasing CO 2 from terrestrial ecosystems to the atmosphere (Raich and Tufekcioglu 2000), contains all CO 2 fluxes originated from rhizodeposits, crop litter, and soil organic matter decomposition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Less carbon emissions of wheat–maize intercropping under reduced tillage in arid areas

Chai

et al. 2014

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Intercropping is used to increase grain production in many areas of the world. However, this increasing crop yield costs large amounts of water used by intercropped plants. In addition, intercropping usually requires higher inputs that induce greenhouse gas emissions. Actually, it is unknown whether intercropping can be effective in waterlimited arid areas. Here, we measured crop yield, water consumption, soil respiration, and carbon emissions of wheatmaize intercropping under different tillage and crop residue management options. . Reduced tillage decreased C emission over conventional tillage by 6.7 % for the intercropping, 5.9 % for monoculture maize, and 7.1 % for monoculture wheat. Compared to monoculture maize, wheat-maize intercropping used more water but emitted 3.4 kg C per hectare per millimeter of water used, which was 23 % lower than monoculture maize. Overall, our findings show that maize-wheat intercropping with reduced tillage coupled with stubble mulching can be used to increase grain production while effectively lower carbon emissions in arid areas.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Less carbon emissions of wheat–maize intercropping under reduced tillage in arid areas

Chai

et al. 2014

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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“…Yet, the impacts of land-use change on SOC dynamics in sub-Saharan African ecosystems are still understudied, especially across diverse landscapes. Meta-analyses have shown that the conversion of forest/natural vegetation to agriculture leads to an overall loss of SOC (Post and Mann 1990;Schlesinger 1997;Ogle et al 2005;Vågen et al 2005;Don et al 2011), which has resulted in renewed efforts for restoring OC in agricultural soils (Lal et al 2004;Lal 2007;Tittonell and Giller 2013;Vanlauwe et al 2014). However, systematic surveys are needed to understand spatial variability of soil health indicators across the landscape, including interactions between inherent soil properties, SOC dynamics and land use, that enable targeted interventions at the plot and landscape-scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape-scale variability of soil health indicators: effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania

Winowiecki

Vågen

Massawe

et al. 2015

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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Land-use change continues at an alarming rate in sub-Saharan Africa adversely affecting ecosystem services provided by soil. These impacts are greatly understudied, especially in biodiversity rich mountains in East Africa. The objectives of this study were to: conduct a biophysical baseline of soil and land health; assess the effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon (SOC); and develop a map of SOC at high resolution to enable farm-scale targeting of management interventions. Biophysical field surveys were conducted in a 100 km 2 landscape near Lushoto, Tanzania, with composite soil samples collected from 160 sampling plots. Soil erosion prevalence was scored, trees were counted, and current and historic land use was recorded at each plot. The results of the study showed a decline in SOC as a result of cultivation, with cultivated plots (n = 105) having mean topsoil OC of 30.6 g kg -1 , while semi-natural plots (n = 55) had 71 g OC kg -1 in topsoil. Cultivated areas were also less variable in SOC than seminatural systems. Prediction models were developed for the mapping of SOC based on RapidEye remote sensing data for January 2014, with good model performance (RMSEP cal = 8.0 g kg -1 ; RMSEP val = 10.5 g kg -1 ) and a SOC map was generated for the study. Interventions will need to focus on practices that increase SOC in order to enhance productivity and resilience of the farming system, in general. The highresolution maps can be used to spatially target interventions as well as for monitoring of changes in SOC.

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“…According to our study, wetland loss on TP reduced the CH 4 emissions by approximately 20% (Figure 4b), which may decrease the global warming potential (GWP). However, the wetland loss also results in a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) (e.g., [68][69][70][71]), releasing additional CO 2 into the atmosphere. In addition, draining wetlands may increase N 2 O emissions [72,73].…”

Section: Feedback Between Climate Change and Ch 4 Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling CH4 Emissions from Natural Wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau over the Past 60 Years: Influence of Climate Change and Wetland Loss

Zhang

Zou

et al. 2016

Atmosphere

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Abstract:The natural wetlands of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are considered to be an important natural source of methane (CH 4 ) to the atmosphere. The long-term variation in CH 4 associated with climate change and wetland loss is still largely unknown. From 1950 to 2010, CH 4 emissions over the TP were analyzed using a model framework that integrates CH4MOD wetland , TOPMODEL, and TEM models. Our simulation revealed a total increase of 15% in CH 4 fluxes, from 6.1 g m´2 year´1 to 7.0 g m´2 year´1. This change was primarily induced by increases in temperature and precipitation. Although climate change has accelerated CH 4 fluxes, the total amount of regional CH 4 emissions decreased by approximately 20% (0.06 Tg-i.e., from 0.28 Tg in the 1950s to 0.22 Tg in the 2000s), due to the loss of 1.41 million ha of wetland. Spatially, both CH 4 fluxes and regional CH 4 emissions showed a decreasing trend from the southeast to the northwest of the study area. Lower CH 4 emissions occurred in the northwestern Plateau, while the highest emissions occurred in the eastern edge. Overall, our results highlighted the fact that wetland loss decreased the CH 4 emissions by approximately 20%, even though climate change has accelerated the overall CH 4 emission rates over the last six decades.

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Managing Soil Carbon

Cited by 300 publications

References 11 publications

Less carbon emissions of wheat–maize intercropping under reduced tillage in arid areas

Less carbon emissions of wheat–maize intercropping under reduced tillage in arid areas

Landscape-scale variability of soil health indicators: effects of cultivation on soil organic carbon in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania

Modeling CH4 Emissions from Natural Wetlands on the Tibetan Plateau over the Past 60 Years: Influence of Climate Change and Wetland Loss

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