Potential for greenhouse gas emissions from soil carbon stock following biofuel cultivation on degraded lands

Nair, P. K. R.; Saha, Subhrajit; Nair, Vimala D.; Haile, Solomon G.

doi:10.1002/ldr.1016

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(41 reference statements)

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“…Converting low vegetation C stock on mineral soils is seen as the future of sustainable palm oil, but its effects on soil carbon stock (soil C stock ) have not been sufficiently quantified. The literature is based on isolated case studies and unconstrained modeling exercises at best (Adachi et al, 2011;Nair et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon neutral? No change in mineral soil carbon stock under oil palm plantations derived from forest or non-forest in Indonesia

Khasanah

Noordwijk

Ningsih³

et al. 2015

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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A B S T R A C TSustainability criteria for palm oil production guide new planting toward non-forest land cover on mineral soil, avoiding carbon debts caused by forest and peat conversion. Effects on soil carbon stock (soil C stock ) of land use change trajectories from forest and non-forest to oil palm on mineral soils include initial decline and subsequent recovery, however modeling efforts and life-cycle accounting are constrained by lack of comprehensive data sets; only few case studies underpin current debate. We analyzed soil C stock (Mg ha À1 ), soil bulk density (BD, g cm À3 ) and soil organic carbon concentration (C org , %) from 155 plots in 20 oil palm plantations across the major production areas of Indonesia, identifying trends during a production cycle on 6 plantations with sufficient spread in plot age. Plots were sampled in four management zones: weeded circle (WC), interrow (IR), frond stacks (FS), and harvest paths (HP); three depth intervals 0-5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm were sampled in each zone. Compared to the initial condition, increases in C org (16.2%) and reduction in BD (8.9%) in the FS zone, was compensated by decrease in C org (21.4%) and increase in BD (6.6%) in the HP zone, with intermediate results elsewhere. For a weighted average of the four management zones and after correction for equal mineral soil basis, the net temporal trend in soil C stock in the top 30 cm of soil across all data was not significantly different from zero in both forest-and non-forest-derived oil palm plantations. Individual plantations experienced net decline, net increase or U-shaped trajectories. The 2% difference in mean soil C stock in forest and nonforest derived oil palm plantations was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Unless soil management changes strongly from current practice, it is appropriate for C footprint calculations to assume soil C stock neutrality on mineral soils used for oil palm cultivation. 2015 Z. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon neutral? No change in mineral soil carbon stock under oil palm plantations derived from forest or non-forest in Indonesia

Khasanah

Noordwijk

Ningsih³

et al. 2015

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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“…Recent reviews have attempted to estimate C cycle perturbation associated with oil palm cultivation (Lasco, 2002;Germer & Sauerborn, 2007;Gibbs et al, 2008;Reijnders & Huijbregts, 2008;Wicke et al, 2008;Danielsen et al, 2009;Nair et al, 2011;Page et al, 2011) although soil C is not well quantified and assumptions are subject to large uncertainties. The literature is particularly devoid of quantitative information on changes in soil C dynamics over the economic lifespan of oil palm plantations (~25-30 years).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short‐term soil carbon sink potential of oil palm plantations

et al. 2012

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Oil palm plantations cover %14.6 million ha worldwide and the total area under cultivation is expected to increase during the 21st century . Indonesia and Malaysia together account for 87% of global palm oil production and the combined harvested area in these countries has expanded by 6.5 million ha since 1990. Despite this, soil C cycling in oil palm systems is not well quantified but such information is needed for C budget inventories. We quantified soil C storage (root biomass, soil organic matter (SOM) and microbial biomass) and losses [potential soil respiration (R s ) and soil surface CO 2 flux (F s )] in mineral soils from an oil palm plantation chronosequence (11-34 years since planting) in Selangor, Malaysia. There were no significant effects of plantation age on SOM, microbial biomass, R s or F s , implying soil C was in dynamic equilibrium over the chronosequence. However, there was a significant increase in root biomass with plantation age, indicating a short-term C sink. Across the chronosequence, R s was driven by soil moisture, soil particle size, root biomass and soil microbial biomass N but not microbial biomass C. This suggests that the nutrient status of the microbial community may be of equal or greater importance for soil CO 2 losses than substrate availability and also raises particular concerns regarding the addition of nitrogenous fertilizer, i.e. increased yields will be associated with increased soil CO 2 emissions. To fully assess the impact of oil palm plantations on soil C storage, initial soil C losses following land conversion (e.g. from native forest or other previous plantations) must be accounted for. If initial soil C losses are large, our data show that there is no accumulation of stable C in the soil as the plantation matures and hence the conversion to oil palm would probably represent a net loss of soil C.

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“…Land degradation has recently become a particular focus of the study of carbon and nitrogen cycles (Nair et al, 2011;Su et al, 2010;Tang et al, 2010). English language reports that might be used to assess the impacts of changes in land use and land degradation in China on SOC and STN have been particularly scant, although China is the world's third largest country (Houghton and Hackler, 2003) and therefore contains a significant proportion of the world's SOC and STN.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Land Cover Changes and Their Effect on Soil Organic Carbon and Soil Total Nitrogen in Daqing Prefecture, China

Stott²,

et al. 2012

Land Degrad. Develop.

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The aim of this study was to examine the influence of land cover changes on soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) in the Daqing Prefecture of China, where heavy industrialisation in the form of dense oil wells has impacted the environment. Time‐series presentations for the period 1978 to 2008 of remotely sensed data and soil survey data were used to assess the extent of the changes. The study revealed soil degradation under all land cover types and in all soil types, grassland retreat (−15 per cent), swampland retreat (−45 per cent) and increases in the area of farmland (+19 per cent), sand land (+1450 per cent) and alkaline land (+52 per cent). Depletion of the SOC pool occurred in swampland (−64 per cent) both because of the decrease in the area of swampland and because of a decrease in SOC density (−34 per cent). An increase in the SOC pool occurred in alkaline land because of the increase in the area and also because of an increase in SOC density (+297 per cent), but there was little change in the SOC pool in farmland because the increase in area was largely offset by a decrease in SOC density (−14 per cent). The decrease in the STN pool was substantial (−44 per cent), with the largest contributor being the decrease in swamplands (−74 per cent), partly because of the decrease in the area of swampland and partly because of a decrease in STN density (−52 per cent). Large decreases in the STN pool also occurred in farmland (−22 per cent) and grassland (−41 per cent). The direct impacts of construction associated with the expansion of the oil industry were overshadowed by indirect impacts such as interference with water flows and water levels resulting in salinisation of soil. The study also revealed that land cover changes are much more dynamic than a simple analysis would reveal, and because of lag times in the loss of SOC, soil degradation will continue even if land cover changes cease. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Potential for greenhouse gas emissions from soil carbon stock following biofuel cultivation on degraded lands

Cited by 19 publications

References 59 publications

Carbon neutral? No change in mineral soil carbon stock under oil palm plantations derived from forest or non-forest in Indonesia

Carbon neutral? No change in mineral soil carbon stock under oil palm plantations derived from forest or non-forest in Indonesia

Short‐term soil carbon sink potential of oil palm plantations

Assessment of Land Cover Changes and Their Effect on Soil Organic Carbon and Soil Total Nitrogen in Daqing Prefecture, China

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