Soil organic carbon allocation and dynamics under perennial energy crops and their feedbacks with soil microbial biomass and activity

Abstract

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Long‐term cultivation of Miscanthus and switchgrass accelerates soil organic carbon accumulation by decreasing carbon mineralization in infertile red soil

“…Cultivation of PECs can accelerate soil C m by increasing soil microbial activity and formation of SOC (Ruf & Emmerling, 2020). In this study, the highest C m rates were on the first day of the incubation, and then, rates gradually decreased until reaching a plateau.…”

Biomass partitioning and nutrient fluxes in Silphium perfoliatum and silage maize cropping systems

“…by the activity of earthworms) proceeds rather slow. These assumptions are supported by a density-fractionationbased analysis of the soil organic matter composition and quality carried out by Ruf and Emmerling (2020). They found that under cup plant cultivation, particularly the fraction of occluded particulate organic matter (oPOM) with a density between 1.6 and 2.0 g cm − 3 was increased while the changes in free particulate organic matter (fPOM) was of minor relevance.…”

“…High root masses may come along with the ability to foster soil microbial activity due to the excretion of low-molecular substances as easily available carbon source. This may also be the reason for the observed increase in soil organic carbon contents under cup plant cultivation (Emmerling 2016, Ruf andEmmerling 2020). In contrast, the contribution of aboveground biomass fractions (stubbles and litterfall) to soil organic matter formation appears questionable despite the large amounts and good palatability.…”

“…Several studies have highlighted the low-input character of PECs and their potential for carbon sequestration (Cumplido-Marin et al 2020 ; Emmerling 2016 ; Ruf et al 2018 ; von Cossel et al 2019 ). Although there are significant reductions in management efforts for PECs, a recent study has proven that PECs harvested in a green state for anaerobic digestion purposes show significantly higher nutrient exports than PECs harvested in a brown state for thermal use (Ruf and Emmerling 2021 ). The potential of crops to accumulate soil organic carbon is a key issue in evaluating the sustainability of ‘energy from fields’ and significantly improving the greenhouse-gas balance of PECs compared to AECs (Adler et al 2007 ; Brandão et al 2011 ; Cadoux et al 2014 ; Felten et al 2013 ).…”

Pollinator planting establishment and bee visitation are influenced by seeding rate and post‐seeding management

“…This conservation practice can be incorporated into farms to support bees and other pollinating insects (Carvell et al 2021; Graham et al 2021), as well as natural enemies (Blaauw & Isaacs 2015; Campbell et al 2017; Hatt et al 2017), and birds (Pywell et al 2012). Furthermore, wildflower plantings may benefit surrounding natural systems through soil stabilization (Bretzel et al 2009), reduction of pesticide and fertilizer run‐off (Aldrich 2002; Wratten et al 2012), and increased carbon sequestration (Weißhuhn et al 2017; Ruf & Emmerling 2020). Placing wildflower plantings alongside crop fields or replacing crop areas with wildflower habitat has the potential to increase revenue for farmers through greater pollination (Morandin & Winston 2006; Garibaldi et al 2014; Albrecht et al 2020) due to spillover where bees attracted to wildflowers will also forage on neighboring crop flowers (Carvalheiro et al 2012; Jönsson et al 2015; Lowe et al 2021).…”