Management practices to reduce losses or increase soil carbon stocks in temperate grazed grasslands: New Zealand as a case study

Whitehead, David; Schipper, Louis A.; Pronger, Jack; Moinet, Gabriel Y.K.; Mudge, Paul L.; Pereira, Roberto Calvelo; Kirschbaum, Miko U. F.; McNally, Samuel R.; Beare, Michael H.; Arbestain, Marta Camps

doi:10.1016/j.agee.2018.06.022

Cited by 89 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 112 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The continuing studies on SOC sources and biogeochemical processes in the soil environment provide key insights into climate‐C feedbacks, and help prioritizing C sequestration initiatives (Gross & Harrison, 2019). In light of the climate change issue, the storage of C and additional sequestration of atmospheric C have received increasing attention recently (Lavallee et al., 2020; Rumpel et al., 2018; Whitehead et al., 2018), promoting land management, and agro‐ecosystems in particular, as a key mitigation option (e.g. the ‘4 per mille Soils for Food Security and Climate’ initiative, Minasny et al., 2017; Soussana et al., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ensemble modelling, uncertainty and robust predictions of organic carbon in long‐term bare‐fallow soils

Farina¹,

Sándor

Abdalla

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Simulation models represent soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics in global carbon (C) cycle scenarios to support climate‐change studies. It is imperative to increase confidence in long‐term predictions of SOC dynamics by reducing the uncertainty in model estimates. We evaluated SOC simulated from an ensemble of 26 process‐based C models by comparing simulations to experimental data from seven long‐term bare‐fallow (vegetation‐free) plots at six sites: Denmark (two sites), France, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The decay of SOC in these plots has been monitored for decades since the last inputs of plant material, providing the opportunity to test decomposition without the continuous input of new organic material. The models were run independently over multi‐year simulation periods (from 28 to 80 years) in a blind test with no calibration (Bln) and with the following three calibration scenarios, each providing different levels of information and/or allowing different levels of model fitting: (a) calibrating decomposition parameters separately at each experimental site (Spe); (b) using a generic, knowledge‐based, parameterization applicable in the Central European region (Gen); and (c) using a combination of both (a) and (b) strategies (Mix). We addressed uncertainties from different modelling approaches with or without spin‐up initialization of SOC. Changes in the multi‐model median (MMM) of SOC were used as descriptors of the ensemble performance. On average across sites, Gen proved adequate in describing changes in SOC, with MMM equal to average SOC (and standard deviation) of 39.2 (±15.5) Mg C/ha compared to the observed mean of 36.0 (±19.7) Mg C/ha (last observed year), indicating sufficiently reliable SOC estimates. Moving to Mix (37.5 ± 16.7 Mg C/ha) and Spe (36.8 ± 19.8 Mg C/ha) provided only marginal gains in accuracy, but modellers would need to apply more knowledge and a greater calibration effort than in Gen, thereby limiting the wider applicability of models.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ensemble modelling, uncertainty and robust predictions of organic carbon in long‐term bare‐fallow soils

Farina¹,

Sándor

Abdalla

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Increasing soil carbon stocks in grasslands has a strong potential to contribute to this effort [4,5]. However, the impacts of different grassland management practices are not well understood [6], and recent reviews highlight a lack of data to clarify the mechanisms by which various management practices affect soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks [7,8]. Moreover, there are large uncertainties concerning the drivers of soil respiration (R s ), which is the second largest terrestrial carbon flux globally [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grassland Management Influences the Response of Soil Respiration to Drought

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing soil carbon stocks in agricultural grasslands has a strong potential to mitigate climate change. However, large uncertainties around the drivers of soil respiration hinder our ability to identify management practices that enhance soil carbon sequestration. In a context where more intense and prolonged droughts are predicted in many regions, it is critical to understand how different management practices will temper drought-induced carbon losses through soil respiration. In this study, we compared the impact of changing soil volumetric water content during a drought on soil respiration in permanent grasslands managed either as grazed by dairy cows or as a mowing regime. Across treatments, root biomass explained 43% of the variability in soil respiration (p < 0.0001). Moreover, analysis of the isotopic composition of CO2 emitted from the soil, roots, and root-free soil suggested that the autotrophic component largely dominated soil respiration. Soil respiration was positively correlated with soil water content (p = 0.03) only for the grazed treatment. Our results suggest that the effect of soil water content on soil respiration was attributable mainly to an effect on root and rhizosphere activity in the grazed treatment. We conclude that farm management practices can alter the relationship between soil respiration and soil water content.

show abstract

“…They found that increasing stocking rate increased grazing efficiency and milk production per hectare. Stocking rate had not shown substantial influence on soil solute concentrations of nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, or total N. Whitehead et al (2018) studied the effect of grazing management on soil carbon stocks in grazing grasslands in New Zealand. They showed grazing practices can change soil carbon stocks through changes in NEE, the biomass removed and decomposition rate.…”

Section: Soil Organic Matter (Som) and Nutrient In Grazing Landsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grasslands cover 70% of the global agricultural area (Whitehead et al, 2018;Oertel et al, 2016) and store about 34% of the global terrestrial carbon (C) (Eze et al, 2018;Lal, 2004). Worldwide meat production has increased from 78 in 1963 to 338.9 Mt in 2019 and milk production was 851 Mt in 2019 (FAO, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of grazing management on spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions of grasslands and rangelands: Monitoring, assessment and scaling-up

Wang

Bork

et al. 2021

Journal of Cleaner Production

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Management practices to reduce losses or increase soil carbon stocks in temperate grazed grasslands: New Zealand as a case study

Cited by 89 publications

References 112 publications

Ensemble modelling, uncertainty and robust predictions of organic carbon in long‐term bare‐fallow soils

Ensemble modelling, uncertainty and robust predictions of organic carbon in long‐term bare‐fallow soils

Grassland Management Influences the Response of Soil Respiration to Drought

Effects of grazing management on spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil carbon and greenhouse gas emissions of grasslands and rangelands: Monitoring, assessment and scaling-up

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About