Abstract
Soil properties and functions are dramatically altered by changes in agricultural land use. However, little is known about how ecosystem C stock and its partitioning change with deforestation for agricultural land use, especially in cold humid areas. In this study, we investigated how agricultural development influences temporal changes in soil C pools in upland crop fields using a paired-plot approach. Ten pairs of control forest and agricultural development plots (2 to more than 80 years) were selected with the same crop rotation under humid temperate climate in Northeast Japan. We detected a net gain in soil C during the first 2 years of agricultural land development under the flat field condition. This gain in soil C was caused by an increase in the light fraction soil C, which represents plant residue derived-C due to agricultural development. Agricultural development resulted in the loss of soil C in fields without manure application. There was no difference in the ecosystem C stock among soil types or with the amount of manure applied. Agricultural development resulted in a slow decrease in soil C storage, indicating a slow rate of C decomposition under cool climate conditions.
Highlights
Land use change is the second largest contributor of C emission after fossil fuels [1]
Shorter and longer duration since development are represented as AD1 and AD2 at sites 3–5, and the results indicated less soil C stock in long-term agricultural development fields (AD)
A gradual increasing cropland area in Hokkaido Tokachi District is providing an opportunity to investigate the change in C stocks under the current climate condition
Summary
Land use change is the second largest contributor of C emission after fossil fuels [1]. Conversion of natural forests to agricultural land leads to significant changes in soil processes and properties and changes in soil C. Several studies have showed that the conversion of forest to cropland reduces soil organic carbon (OC) stock. A global meta-analysis has showed that land use change from native forest to agricultural development reduced 42% of soil C [4]. Studies have reported that the soil C content decreased by 25%–50% of the soil C stock [4,5,6]; 70% in Ethiopia [7] and 78% in the Philippines [8] These estimates of the total C emissions might be uncertain because most studies depend on summing a robust data set [9]. Conclusive evidence regarding regional changes in C storage after land use change is limited
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