Soil carbon stock and emission: estimates from three land-use systems in Ghana

Abstract

Background Land-use systems that sequester carbon and reduce CO2 emissions are key in the global mitigation strategies of climate change. Greenhouse gas emission from agro-ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa is little studied. Here, we quantified soil carbon stock (SCS) and CO2 emissions from three land-use systems viz. arable land, oil palm plantation and forestland in the semi-deciduous forest zone of Ghana. Results Soil organic carbon concentration at the 0–15 cm layer in the forestland was 62 and 23% greater than that in the arable land and palm plantation, respectively. The SCS along the 1.0-m profile was 108.2, 99.0 and 73.5 Mg ha−1 in the forestland, palm plantation and arable land, respectively. Arable land emitted 30–46% more CO2 than palm plantation and forestland. In the dry season, CO2 emissions were respectively 0.93, 0.63 and 0.5 kg ha−1 h−1 from the arable land, palm plantation and forestland. Positive relationships were observed between CO2 emissions and SCS, soil temperature, and moisture. The SCS greatly influenced CO2 emission in the dry season more than in the wet season in the relatively higher carbon-input systems (forestland and palm plantation). Soil temperature accounted for more than 55% of CO2 emissions in both seasons, which has implications in the era of rising global temperatures. Conclusions The study provides relevant information on carbon storage abilities of the three land-use types in tropical climate and calls for drastic climate change actions to reduce degradation of forest cover and soil disturbance in agro-ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa.

Soil carbon, nutrient, and vegetation dynamics of an old Anogeissus grove in Mole National Park, Ghana

“…Due to the coupling of carbon and nitrogen (Anokye et al, 2021;Mesele & Ajiboye, 2020), the pattern of nitrogen was similar to that of carbon in the pools measured. This is clearly accentuated by the lower PON, MAON, etc., observed in the savanna than in the grove (Table 4).…”

Carbon stock assessment and comparison in soybean plantations in Southwest Brazilian Amazon

“…Soil represents about four times the carbon stored in vegetation and three times the value of the atmosphere (IPCC, 2001;ANOKYE et al, 2021). Changes in land use and occupation cause disturbances in the edaphic region, responsible for the greatest contribution to the organic carbon reserve (PACHECO et al, 2018).…”

“…O solo representa cerca de quatro vezes o carbono estocado na vegetação e três vezes o valor da atmosfera (IPCC, 2001;ANOKYE et al 2021). As alterações no uso e na ocupação do solo acarretam distúrbios na região edáfica, responsável pela maior contribuição na reserva de carbono orgânico (PACHECO et al, 2018).…”

Soil aggregate stability of forest islands and adjacent ecosystems in West Africa

“…This observation was presumably a result of high soil microbial activity. Precipitation has often been reported to increase soil microbial biomass (Logah et al 2010(Logah et al , 2013Huang et al 2015;Anokye et al 2021), which serves as binding agent in soil aggregate formation (Chotte, 2005). Apart from this, increased precipitation amount enhances microbial decomposition of fresh organic matter (Schaefer 1973;Lavee et al 1996) leading to production of polysaccharides (Sarig and Steinberger 1993), which enhance the formation of microaggregates (Amezketa 1999;Totsche et al, 2018).…”