Assessment of the soil organic carbon stock in Spain

Martín, José Antonio Rodríguez; Álvaro‐Fuentes, Jorge; Gonzalo, J.; Gil, C.; Ramos-Miras, J.J.; Corbí, J.M. Grau; Boluda, Rafael

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2015.10.010

Cited by 156 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Even between 1990 and 2008, the sharp increase in internal and external flows of biomass for animal feed barely contributed to increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) due to the fact that these flows had an increasingly lower C:N ratio for the largest proportion of monogastric and ruminant animals, as noted previously [47]. This helps to explain why half of all agricultural land in Spain currently has an organic carbon content of less than 1% [48]. Moreover, the availability of phytomass is necessary to sustain complex food chains of heterotrophic species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

et al. 2017

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Abstract:For a large extent of historiography, the history of Spanish agriculture during the twentieth century is a story of success. However, this narrative has been built on monetary analysis, and it does not usually take into account the effects on rural society and agroecosystems. The aim of this paper is to analyze what has happened from a biophysical perspective to ascertain whether transformations linked with industrialization of agriculture have also been positive. For this, we have integrated the results-some unpublished and others already published-of a broader research project about different aspects of food production from a biophysical perspective in Spain, applying methodologies pertaining to the Social Metabolism. Our research seeks to provide a new narrative, emerging through the consideration of environmental aspects of the process, providing a more complex vision of the process of industrialization in European agriculture. The results show that the industrialization of Spanish agriculture has brought about profound changes in land uses and in the functionality of the biomass produced, increasing pressure on croplands and, paradoxically, facilitating the abandonment of an important proportion of pasture and croplands. This has led to the subordination of a very significant portion of Spanish agroecosystems to the feed demands of intensive livestock farming. This process has been based on the injection of large quantities of external energy. Agricultural production has undergone significant growth since the 1960s, but this has been insufficient to deal with the growing demand created by the change in the Spanish diet and the increasing trend to focus on livestock farming. The process of globalization has allowed both roles to be reconciled, although in recent decades Spain has accentuated its role as a net importer of biomass from a biophysical perspective, with very significant impacts on third party countries, particularly in Latin America. From a biophysical perspective, the industrialization of Spanish agriculture has entailed negative consequences that threaten the sustainability of Spanish agroecosystems and also negatively affect the sustainability of other territories.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

et al. 2017

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“…Therefore, although this surplus does not affect the quality of the soil, it does negatively affect other fund elements such as water, biodiversity, and the atmosphere. The relatively low values in cropland indicate that agricultural land is on the threshold of degradation (Romanyà et al 2007, Rodríguez-Martín et al 2016. In theory, the increase in cropland NPPact resulting from intensification, together with the massive importation of feed, could have brought about a substantial increase in the return of organic carbon to the soil.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Replenishment of organic carbon: In both ecosystems and agroecosystems, the main driver of SOC is biomass input (Rodríguez-Martín et al 2016). The fundamental difference is that, in agroecosystems, the magnitude of this input is both directly and indirectly conditioned by the farming method: directly, because many farming practices, such as residue burning, organic fertilization, use of herbicides, and so forth, intentionally modify the magnitude of the input; and indirectly, because the NPPact is affected by farming methods, to the extent that it affects the state of the fund elements and/or modifies the availability of limiting factors.…”

Section: Soilmentioning

confidence: 99%

The agrarian metabolism as a tool for assessing agrarian sustainability, and its application to Spanish agriculture (1960-2008)

Guzmán¹,

Aguilera²,

García‐Ruiz³

et al. 2018

E&S

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-Fernández, J. Infante-Amate, and M. González de Molina. 2018. The agrarian metabolism as a tool for assessing agrarian sustainability, and its application to Spanish agriculture ABSTRACT. Agrarian metabolism applies the social metabolism framework to agriculture. It focuses on the study of the exchange of material and energy flows between a society and its environment for producing useful biomass. These flows must maintain the fund elements of the agroecosystem in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality for them to continue providing ecosystem services. This methodology was applied to Spanish agriculture between 1960 and 2008, a period characterized by a deep process of intensification based on external inputs (EIs). We specifically focused on nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), carbon (C), and energy flows, and on the three fund elements that they sustain such as soil, biodiversity, and woodland. The results show that the growing incorporation of EIs has broken the equilibrium between land and biomass uses required by traditional farming, lowering the density of internal energy loops. On cropland, the relative fall in unharvested biomass had a negative effect on both biodiversity and the soil, which reduced the replenishment of organic C between 1960 and 1990. The sharp increase in internal and external flows of biomass for animal feed hardly contributed to increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) between 1990 and 2008 because of the fact that these flows had increasingly lower C:N ratios. The massive importation of N in feed and mineral fertilizers (553 and 1150 Gg in 2000, respectively) increased the surplus and the losses of N, which in turn could have a negative impact on biodiversity, water, and the atmosphere. The scenario constructed without imported animal feed would allow a reduction in the environmental impacts related to the excess of N, with hardly any negative effect on SOC replenishment, and improving energy return rates in the form of total, unharvested, and accumulated phytomass.

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“…For example, Liu et al [11] predicted the spatial patterns of soil N and P stocks for the whole Loess Plateau using OK, and total N and P stocks amounted to 0.217 and 0.205 Pg (1 Pg = 10 15 g), respectively. Martín et al [17] predicted the spatial distribution of soil carbon stocks within 0-30 cm with OK across Spain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Distribution of Soil Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Stocks in Moso Bamboo Forests in Subtropical China

Tang

Xia

Guan

et al. 2016

Forests

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Moso bamboo is famous for fast growth and biomass accumulation, as well as high annual output for timber and bamboo shoots. These high outputs require high nutrient inputs to maintain and improve stand productivity. Soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are important macronutrients for plant growth and productivity. Due to high variability of soils, analysing spatial patterns of soil N, P, and K stocks is necessary for scientific nutrient management of Moso bamboo forests. In this study, soils were sampled from 138 locations across Yong'an City and ordinary kriging was applied for spatial interpolation of soil N, P, and K stocks within 0-60 cm. The nugget-to-sill ratio suggested a strong spatial dependence for soil N stock and a moderate spatial dependence for soil P and K stocks, indicating that soil N stock was mainly controlled by intrinsic factors while soil P and K stocks were controlled by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Different spatial patterns were observed for soil N, P, and K stocks across the study area, indicating that fertilizations with different ratios of N:P:K should be applied for different sites to maintain and improve stand productivity. The total soil N, P, and K stocks within 0-60 cm were 0.624, 0.020, and 0.583 Tg, respectively, indicating soils were important pools for N, P, and K.

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Assessment of the soil organic carbon stock in Spain

Cited by 156 publications

References 56 publications

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

The agrarian metabolism as a tool for assessing agrarian sustainability, and its application to Spanish agriculture (1960-2008)

Spatial Distribution of Soil Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium Stocks in Moso Bamboo Forests in Subtropical China

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