Carbon Life Cycle Assessment for Prairie as a Crop in Reclaimed Mine Land

Abstract

A life cycle assessment with carbon (C) as the reference unit was used to balance the benefits of land preparation practices of establishing tall-grass prairies as a crop for reclaimed mine land with reduced environmental damage. Land preparation and management practices included disking with sub-soiling (DK-S), disking only (DK), no tillage (NT), and no tillage with grazing (NT-G). To evaluate the C balance and energy use of each of the land preparations, an index of sustainability (I s = C O /C I , Where: C O is the sum of all outputs and C I is the sum of all inputs) was used to assess temporal changes in C.Of the four land preparation and management practices, DK had the highest I s at 8·53. This was due to it having the least degradation of soil organic carbon (SOC) during land-use change (À730 kg ha À1 y À1 ) and second highest aboveground biomass production (9,881 kg ha À1 ). The highest aboveground biomass production occurred with NT (11,130 kg ha À1 ), although SOC losses were similar to DK-S, which on average was 2,899 kg ha À1 y À1 . The I s values for NT and DK-S were 2·50 and 1·44, respectively. Grazing from bison reduced the aboveground biomass to 8,971 kg ha À1 compared with NT with no grazing, although stocking density was low enough that I s was still 1·94. This study has shown that converting from cool-season forage grasses to tall-grass prairie results in a significant net sink for atmospheric CO 2 3 years after establishment in reclaimed mine land, because of high biomass yields compensating for SOC losses from land-use change.

Land use effects on soil organic carbon sequestration in calcareous Leptosols in former pastureland – a case study from the Tatra Mountains (Poland)

“…on the forest floor; and (3) plant dwarf pine shrub. All three methods effectively protect the soil against erosion, which was confirmed by the horizonation of all the studied soils -seen to be experiencing gradual soil stabilization (Targulian and Krasilnikov, 2007;Guzman et al, 2014).…”

“…grass supplies a higher amount of plant tissue to the soil than short xerothermic grassland plants do. Guzman et al (2014) found that after 3 years of the reclamation of mining area soils using tall prairie grasses, these soils had received significantly more biomass than soils reclaimed using cool-season forage grass. In the Jaworzynka Valley, the relatively higher SOC stock in larch forest (Fig.…”

“…The expected effect of soil reclamation and renaturation is SOC (OM) sequestration, especially in resistant (mineralassociated, aggregated) forms, which leads to increased soil fertility, soil stability, and improved soil structure (resistance against erosion), and helps restrict CO 2 emission into the atmosphere (Oades, 1984;Debasish-Saha et al, 2014;Fernández-Romero et al, 2014;Guzman et al, 2014). In this context, afforestation with sparse larch forest is the most effective solution, because soils under larch forest sequester the largest amount of SOC (Fig.…”

Miscanthus and switchgrass feedstock potential for bioenergy and carbon sequestration on minesoils

“…However, more studies are needed to better improve these estimates, although, to date, few studies have assessed effects of land use changes to bioenergy crop production on SOC stocks in marginal lands, and even fewer in degraded lands such as minesoils. A study assessing the impacts of converting from cool season forage grasses to C 4 tall-grass prairie for bioenergy production in minesoils in eastern Ohio, also showed losses of initial SOC stocks on average of 18% (7.1 Mg C ha -1 ) [134]. These initial SOC losses were attributed to reduced potential C inputs from above-and belowground biomass and higher rates of decomposition during the first two years of tall-grass prairie establishment compared with pre-existing conditions.…”

Changes in soil organic carbon and nitrogen capacities of <i>Salix cheilophila</i> Schneid along a revegetation chronosequence in semi-arid degraded sandy land of the Gonghe Basin, Tibet Plateau

“…Revegetation of degraded land is a major global issue, which has been shown to improve and restore some of the ecosystem services both of the physical and biological processes. It has been widely recognized that revegetation is an effective measure for soil and water conservation, increasing C and N storages and improving land productivity (Grünzweig et al, 2003;Cao et al, 2008Cao et al, , 2011Hu et al, 2008;Lal, 2009;Barua and Haque, 2013;Su et al, 2013;Jaiarree et al, 2014;Guzman et al, 2014;Srinivasarao et al, 2014). In desertified areas of northwest China, establishing artificial vegetation and bans on grazing are commonly adopted measures for combating desertification and restoring vegetation.…”