Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks

Alcántara, Viridiana; Don, Axel; Vesterdal, Lars; Well, Reinhard; Nieder, Rolf

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-05501-y

Cited by 38 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The changes in proportions of SOC components in deep soil lagged behind those in surface soil in restored forests, which is consistent with the results from previous studies (Alcantara et al, 2017). Finer root biomass and leaf litter had the greatest impacts on the proportion of topsoil aggregate fractions, whereas thick root biomass had the greatest impact on the proportions of deep soil aggregate fractions.…”

Section: Effects Of Restoration Ages On Proportion Of Soc Components supporting

confidence: 90%

Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests rapidly increased the content and ratio of inert carbon in soil macroaggregates

Sun

He²,

Wang

et al. 2019

J. Arid Land

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The lack of clarity of how natural vegetation restoration influences soil organic carbon (SOC) content and SOC components in soil aggregate fractions limits the understanding of SOC sequestration and turnover in forest ecosystems. The aim of this study was to explore how natural vegetation restoration affects the SOC content and ratio of SOC components in soil macroaggregates (>250 µm), microaggregates (53-250 µm), and silt and clay (<53 µm) fractions in 30-, 60-, 90-and 120-year-old Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests, Shaanxi, China in 2015. And the associated effects of biomasses of leaf litter and different sizes of roots (0-0.5, 0.5-1.0, 1.0-2.0 and >2.0 mm diameter) on SOC components were studied too. Results showed that the contents of high activated carbon (HAC), activated carbon (AC) and inert carbon (IC) in the macroaggregates, microaggregates and silt and clay fractions increased with restoration ages. Moreover, IC content in the microaggregates in topsoil (0-20 cm) rapidly increased; peaking in the 90-year-old restored forest, and was 5.74 times higher than AC content. In deep soil (20-80 cm), IC content was 3.58 times that of AC content. Biomasses of 0.5-1.0 mm diameter roots and leaf litter affected the content of aggregate fractions in topsoil, while the biomass of >2.0 mm diameter roots affected the content of aggregate fractions in deep soil. Across the soil profiles, macroaggregates had the highest capacity for HAC sequestration. The effects of restoration ages on soil aggregate fractions and SOC content were less in deep soil than in topsoil. In conclusion, natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak forests improved the contents of SOC, especially IC within topsoil and deep soil. The influence of IC on aggregate stability was greater than the other SOC components, and the aggregate stability was significantly affected by the biomasses of litter, 0.5-1.0 mm diameter roots in topsoil and >2.0 mm diameter roots in deep soil. Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak forests promoted SOC sequestration by soil macroaggregates. Citation: SUN Lipeng, HE Lirong, WANG Guoliang, JING Hang, LIU Guobin. 2019. Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests rapidly increased the content and ratio of inert carbon in soil macroaggregates. Journal of Arid Land, 11(6): 928-938. https://doi.

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Section: Effects Of Restoration Ages On Proportion Of Soc Components supporting

confidence: 90%

Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests rapidly increased the content and ratio of inert carbon in soil macroaggregates

Sun

He²,

Wang

et al. 2019

J. Arid Land

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“…This indicates the preservation and longer turnover of labile SOC with time after burial. Alcántara et al (2017) found buried topsoils after deep ploughing to contain more or similar amounts of labile SOC compared to reference topsoils. These authors reported 32% higher stability of buried labile SOC compared to reference topsoils in long‐term incubations and no clear trend of SOC transformation to more stabilized fractions after 25–48 years of burial.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…VandenBygaart, Gregorich, and Helgason () reported a reduction in the biodegradability of the SOC buried by erosion and deposition in cropland soils. In a recent study, Alcántara, Don, Vesterdal, Well, and Nieder () found SOC in buried topsoils under European cropland and forest following deep ploughing (up to 120 cm depth) to be 32% more stable than SOC in reference topsoils. To the best of our knowledge, no published study has investigated the burial of SOC in grassland systems and the associated changes in SOC stocks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep soil flipping increases carbon stocks of New Zealand grasslands

Schiedung

Tregurtha

Beare

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Sequestration of soil organic carbon (SOC) has been recognized as an opportunity to off‐set global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Flipping (full inversion to 1–3 m) is a practice used on New Zealand's South Island West Coast to eliminate water‐logging in highly podzolized sandy soils. Flipping results in burial of SOC formed in surface soil horizons into the subsoil and the transfer of subsoil material low in SOC to the “new” topsoil. The aims of this study were to quantify changes in the storage and stability of SOC over a 20‐year period following flipping of high‐productive pasture grassland. Topsoils (0–30 cm) from sites representing a chronosequence of flipping (3–20 years old) were sampled (2005/07) and re‐sampled (2017) to assess changes in topsoil carbon stocks. Deeper samples (30–150 cm) were also collected (2017) to evaluate the changes in stocks of SOC previously buried by flipping. Density fractionation was used to determine SOC stability in recent and buried topsoils. Total SOC stocks (0–150 cm) increased significantly by 69 ± 15% (179 ± 40 Mg SOC ha‐1) over 20 years following flipping. Topsoil burial caused a one‐time sequestration of 160 ± 14 Mg SOC ha‐1 (30–150 cm). The top 0–30 cm accumulated 3.6 Mg SOC ha‐1 year‐1. The chronosequence and re‐sampling revealed SOC accumulation rates of 1.2–1.8 Mg SOC ha‐1 year‐1 in the new surface soil (0–15 cm) and a SOC deficit of 36 ± 5% after 20 years. Flipped subsoils contained up to 32% labile SOC (compared to <1% in un‐flipped subsoils) thus buried SOC was preserved. This study confirms that burial of SOC and the exposure of SOC depleted subsoil results in an overall increase of SOC stocks of the whole soil profile and long‐term SOC preservation.

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“…However, the Swiss agricultural system is strongly dependent on subsidies and methods to improve SCS, could be promoted through payments. Deep ploughing, a method used to improve soil structure, has been shown to increase SOC stocks by very significant amounts (Alcantara et al, 2016(Alcantara et al, , 2017Schiedung et al, 2019). Nevertheless, to date, these studies remain the only ones we know of and thus the generality of this approach, as well as further ecological implications must be explored in more detail.…”

Section: Improvement Of Soc In Swiss Agricultural Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loss of soil organic carbon in Swiss long-term agricultural experiments over a wide range of management practices

Keel

Anken

Büchi

et al. 2019

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment

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Soil carbon sequestration (SCS) is one of the cheapest and technically least demanding carbon dioxide (CO 2) removal (CDR) or negative CO 2 emission technologies. For a realistic assessment of SCS, it is critical to evaluate how much carbon (C) can be stored in soil organic matter under actual agricultural practices. This includes typical crop rotations and fertilization strategies, depends on resources that are available (e.g. farmyard manure (FYM)) and are affordable for farmers. Furthermore, it is important to assess SCS based on given climatic and soil conditions. Here, we evaluate changes in soil C storage for Switzerland using data from eleven long-term field experiments on cropland and permanent grassland that include common local practices. At all sites, changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks were measured in topsoil (∼0-0.2 m) in response to a total of 80 different treatments including different types of mineral or organic fertilization (e.g. FYM, slurry, peat, compost) or soil management (tillage vs. no-till). The treatments were applied to different, diverse crop rotations or grass mixtures that are representative for Switzerland. We found that topsoils lost C at an average rate of 0.29 Mg C ha −1 yr −1 , although many of the investigated treatments were expected to lead to SOC increases. Based on a linear mixed effects model we showed that SOC change rates (ΔSOC) were driven by C inputs to soil (harvest residues and organic fertilizer), soil cover and initial SOC stocks. The type of land use or soil tillage had no significant effect. Our analysis suggests that current efforts to manage soils sustainably need to be intensified and complemented with further techniques if Switzerland wants to achieve the goal of the 4 per 1000 initiative.

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Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks

Cited by 38 publications

References 51 publications

Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests rapidly increased the content and ratio of inert carbon in soil macroaggregates

Natural vegetation restoration of Liaodong oak (Quercus liaotungensis Koidz.) forests rapidly increased the content and ratio of inert carbon in soil macroaggregates

Deep soil flipping increases carbon stocks of New Zealand grasslands

Loss of soil organic carbon in Swiss long-term agricultural experiments over a wide range of management practices

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