Abstract
A study was conducted to assess the status of soil organic carbon stocks under selected plantation and altered and natural ecosystems in southern Karnataka. Seven locations were identified for the study following the agro-climatic variability. The sites identified were Brahmavara in Udupi (coastal zone), Balehonnur in Chikkamagalur (hilly zone), Madnur and Salegrama in Hassan (northern and southern transitional zone), Alburu in Tumkur (eastern and southern dry zone), Babbur and Javagamatur in Chitradurga (central dry zone). In each of these zones, natural forest ecosystems were assessed in comparison to the plantation-based ecosystems to understand the changes in soil development with emphasis to soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. The SOC stocks at the surface varied from 1.24 to 6.44 kg m-3 in forests and from 1.53 to 6.51 kg m-3 in different plantation ecosystems. It was found from the study that SOC stocks followed the order hilly zone (per-humid climate) > coastal zone (hot humid climate) > eastern and southern dry zone (moist semi-arid climate) > northern and southern transitional zone (dry sub-humid climate) > central dry zone (dry semi-arid climate). The soils belonged to the order Ultisols and Alfisols. The major taxa of the soils identified at sub-group level of soil taxonomy are Rhodic Kandiustults, Typic Plinthohumults, Ustic Haplohumults, Typic Rhodustalfs, Rhodic Paleustalfs, Kandic Paleustalfs and Typic Haplustalfs.
Highlights
Soil is generally regarded as the greatest heritage of humankind and one of the world’s valuable natural resources (Hillel, 1991)
In the 21st century, humankind faces a series of concerns, which are intimately linked to soils such as overpopulation and food shortage, degradation of agricultural land, air and water pollution, loss of biodiversity, genetically modified organisms, accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG) and climate change
soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks values varied among different agro-climatic zones of southern Karnataka and different land-use systems
Summary
Soil is generally regarded as the greatest heritage of humankind and one of the world’s valuable natural resources (Hillel, 1991). Carbon sequestration is defined as the capture and long term storage of the carbon that would otherwise be emitted to or remain in the atmosphere This helps in keeping the carbon emissions under control by sequestering them before reaching the atmosphere by capturing and diverting them to be stored in soil (Jain et al, 2012). A periodical assessment of carbon stock is required to understand the effects of changes in land use on soil carbon storage. These data would help in refining national and global carbon stocks under the influence of changing land use and management scenario. Karnataka is located in the southwestern part of the Deccan peninsular India It lies between 11o to 18o N latitude and 74o to 78o E longitude with a geographical area of 1.91 lakh square kilometers. The southern part of the state is dominated by red sandy to red loamy soil
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