Passive Carbon Pools Research Articles

Depth heterogeneity of soil organic carbon dynamics in a heavily grazed alpine meadow on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau: A radiocarbon-based approach

A deep understanding of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau is crucial for predicting the response of the alpine carbon pool to future climate changes. Here we present information about SOC stocks and turnover time in a heavily grazed alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau based on radiocarbon (14C) measurements and inverse modeling. Our results reveal that the alpine meadow soil is composed of three distinct carbon pools. The topsoil represents the active carbon pool, which has a carbon inventory-weighted mean turnover time of 64 years. The CO2 efflux due to the mineral soil respiration from this pool is ca. 48.45 g C m-2 yr-1, accounting for 91 % of the total heterotrophic soil respiration. The intermediate carbon pool has an inventory-weighted mean turnover time of 780 years and the rate of mineral soil respiration in this pool is an order of magnitude lower than that in the active carbon pool. The parental materials feature the passive carbon pool, which has millennia-long turnover time and the mineral soil respiration is trivial. Comparing our results with other 14C-based studies suggests that grazing intensity may alter not only the SOC stocks but also the soil respiration rate in the alpine grassland ecosystem. The heavily grazed alpine meadow broadly fits the exponential relationship between turnover time and mean annual air temperature identified by meta-analysis of published data from the Tibetan Plateau, alpine grassland, and forest sites elsewhere.

Influence of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) cultivation on soil organic fractions of DakshinaKannada district

The conversion of atmospheric CO 2 into stable long lived carbon pools is an important phenomenon of soil carbon sequestration. Cocoa cultivation significantly increased the slow and passive carbon pools of soil. Significant increase in the organic fractions like humic acid, fulvic acids, non-humic and humin were observed in seven years cocoa cultivated soils. The organic matter fractions were significantly high during January and there after a decrease in trend were registered for all the three soils. A field study was carried out in the cocoa plantations of Moorje, Bantwal taluka, Dakshinakannada district, Karnataka. This study was carried out in five and seven years cocoa plantations in comparison with non-cocoa plantations.

LONG-TERM EFFECT OF PULSES AND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT ON SOIL ORGANIC CARBON DYNAMICS AND SUSTAINABILITY ON AN INCEPTISOL OF INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS OF INDIA

SUMMARYContinuous cultivation of rice–wheat cropping system in the Indo-Gangetic plains is under threat with decline in soil organic carbon (SOC), total factor productivity and overall sustainability. Pulses, an important component of crop diversification, are known to improve soil quality through their unique ability of biological N2 fixation, leaf litter fall and deep root system. Therefore, the effect of inclusion of pulses in the puddled rice system under organic and inorganic amendments on SOC pool and its management indices were evaluated in a long-term experiment after seven cropping cycles. The results indicated that inclusion of pulses in the rice-based system improved the SOC content, being greater in surface soil (0–20 cm) and declining with soil depth. Among the four carbon fractions determined, less labile carbon fraction (Cfrac3) was the dominant fraction in the puddled rice system, particularly under organic treatments, indicating that it is possible to maintain organic carbon for longer time in this system. The rice–wheat–mung bean system resulted in 6% increase in SOC and 85% increase in soil microbial biomass carbon as compared with the conventional rice–wheat system. Application of crop residues, farm yard manure (5 t ha−1) and biofertilisers had greater amount of carbon fractions and carbon management index (CMI) over control and the recommended inorganic (NPKSZnB) treatment in the soil surface, particularly in the system where pulses are included. Interestingly, in the puddled rice system, passive carbon pool is more in surface soil than deeper layers. The relative proportion of active carbon pool in surface layer (0–20 cm) to subsurface layer (20–40 cm) was highest in rice–wheat–rice–chickpea (1.14:1) followed by rice–wheat–mung bean (1.07:1) and lowest in the rice–wheat system (0.69:1). Replacing wheat with chickpea either completely or during alternate year in the conventional rice–wheat system also had positive impact on SOC restoration and CMI. Therefore, inclusion of pulses in the rice-based cropping system and organic nutrient management practices had significant impact on maintaining SOC in an Inceptisol of the Indo-Gangetic plains of India.

Pool Sizes and Turnover of Soil Organic Carbon of Farmland Soil in Karst Area of Guilin

The three-pool and first-order model separates the mineralizable organic carbon into active, slow, and passive carbon pools. This paper used the model and decomposition curves of the soil organic carbon to fit the active pool and its decomposition rate, slow pool and its decomposition rate. The results showed that the size of the active pool from different profiles accounted for 2.09%-3.08% of the total soil organic carbon and the mean residue time was 3.57-17.21 days. And the size of the slow pool accounted for 3.19%-43.55% and the mean residue time was 1.12-4.94 years. Acid hydrolysis (6M HCl) was used to fractionate the passive organic carbon, which accounted for 50.83%-94.44% of the total soil organic carbon.

Using the CENTURY model to assess the impact of land reclamation and management practices in oasis agriculture on the dynamics of soil organic carbon in the arid region of North-western China

Large-scale reclamation of arid land in North-western China over the past 50 years has converted the natural desert landscape into anthropogenic oasis, particularly in the lower part of watersheds. Drastic human activities may have caused the change of soil organic carbon (SOC) in anthropogenic oasis. This study employs the CENTURY model (Version 4.0) to investigate the effects of land reclamation and management practices in oasis agriculture on the dynamic of SOC at the lower part of Sangong river watershed, a typical anthropogenic oasis reclaimed at 50 years ago. Based on field investigation, history of crop rotations, and past farm practices in study area, land management practices were divided into five categories, corresponding five periods, 0–1958, 1959–1984, 1985–1992, 1993–1998 and 1999–2008. The model successfully simulated the SOC dynamics of the top layer soil (0–20 cm) in the different periods. The state of equilibrium of total SOC and the active, slow, and passive carbon pools were built by CENTURY model in 0–1959. Over the 50 years’ cultivation (1959–2008), the mean change in total SOC exhibited complex ways. SOC increased rapidly in the first 2 years (1959–1960) after shrubland reclamation, and declined slowly during the period 1961–1984 and then decreased rapidly from 1985 to 1992. Between 1993 and 1998, it remained relatively stable, and climbed rapidly again during 1999–2008. The trend in total SOC showed “N” shape, i.e., increase, decrease, then increase. Finally, total SOC is greater (8.2%) in 2008 than the original level of SOC under the natural desert shrub. The improvements of land management practices such as ploughing being replaced with no tillage, straw being crushed before returning it to soil, and reasonable application of fertilizers, played a key role in the change in total SOC. Especially, soil carbon sequestration was obviously increased since protective management practices were implemented in 1993, such as no tillage, straw returning to soil, and the balanced fertilization technique. The results were different from the conclusions that loss of soil organic carbon would happen due to reclamation and continuous farming in tropical forests, semiarid grasslands of northern China and Nigerian semiarid Savannah.

Long-term trends in fertility of soils under continuous cultivation and cereal cropping in southern Queensland. IX. Simulation of soil carbon and nitrogen pools using CENTURY model

Cultivation and cropping of soils results in a decline in soil organic carbon and soil nitrogen, and can lead to reduced crop yields. The CENTURY model was used to simulate the effects of continuous cultivation and cereal cropping on total soil organic matter (C and N), carbon pools, nitrogen mineralisation, and crop yield from 6 locations in southern Queensland. The model was calibrated for each replicate from the original datasets, allowing comparisons for each replicate rather than site averages. The CENTURY model was able to satisfactorily predict the impact of long-term cultivation and cereal cropping on total organic carbon, but was less successful in simulating the different fractions and nitrogen mineralisation. The model firstly over-predicted the initial (pre-cropping) soil carbon and nitrogen concentration of the sites. To account for the unique shrinking and swelling characteristics of the Vertosol soils, the default annual decomposition rates of the slow and passive carbon pools were doubled, and then the model accurately predicted initial conditions. The ability of the model to predict carbon pool fractions varied, demonstrating the difficulty inherent in predicting the size of these conceptual pools. The strength of the model lies in the ability to closely predict the starting soil organic matter conditions, and the ability to predict the impact of clearing, cultivation, fertiliser application, and continuous cropping on total soil carbon and nitrogen.