Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks
Abstract Accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) may play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. In particular, subsoil provides a great potential for additional SOC storage due to the assumed higher stability of subsoil SOC. The fastest way in which SOC reaches the subsoil is via...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05501-y |
| _version_ | 1818840778815832064 |
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| author | Viridiana Alcántara Axel Don Lars Vesterdal Reinhard Well Rolf Nieder |
| author_facet | Viridiana Alcántara Axel Don Lars Vesterdal Reinhard Well Rolf Nieder |
| author_sort | Viridiana Alcántara |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) may play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. In particular, subsoil provides a great potential for additional SOC storage due to the assumed higher stability of subsoil SOC. The fastest way in which SOC reaches the subsoil is via burial, e.g. via erosion or deep ploughing. We assessed the effect of active SOC burial through deep ploughing on long-term SOC stocks and stability in forest and cropland subsoil. After 25–48 years, deep-ploughed subsoil contained significantly more SOC than reference subsoils, in both forest soil (+48%) and cropland (+67%). However, total SOC stocks down to 100 cm in deep-ploughed soil were greater than in reference soil only in cropland, and not in forests. This was explained by slower SOC accumulation in topsoil of deep-ploughed forest soils. Buried SOC was on average 32% more stable than reference SOC, as revealed by long-term incubation. Moreover, buried subsoil SOC had higher apparent radiocarbon ages indicating that it is largely isolated from exchange with atmospheric CO2. We concluded that deep ploughing increased subsoil SOC storage and that the higher subsoil SOC stability is not only a result of selective preservation of more stable SOC fractions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T04:15:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-980b971a965d4ee4965735f97bffa777 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T04:15:36Z |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-980b971a965d4ee4965735f97bffa7772022-12-21T20:36:18ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-07-017111210.1038/s41598-017-05501-yStability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocksViridiana Alcántara0Axel Don1Lars Vesterdal2Reinhard Well3Rolf Nieder4Thünen Institute of Climate-Smart AgricultureThünen Institute of Climate-Smart AgricultureDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenThünen Institute of Climate-Smart AgricultureInstitute of Geoecology, Technische Universität BraunschweigAbstract Accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC) may play a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. In particular, subsoil provides a great potential for additional SOC storage due to the assumed higher stability of subsoil SOC. The fastest way in which SOC reaches the subsoil is via burial, e.g. via erosion or deep ploughing. We assessed the effect of active SOC burial through deep ploughing on long-term SOC stocks and stability in forest and cropland subsoil. After 25–48 years, deep-ploughed subsoil contained significantly more SOC than reference subsoils, in both forest soil (+48%) and cropland (+67%). However, total SOC stocks down to 100 cm in deep-ploughed soil were greater than in reference soil only in cropland, and not in forests. This was explained by slower SOC accumulation in topsoil of deep-ploughed forest soils. Buried SOC was on average 32% more stable than reference SOC, as revealed by long-term incubation. Moreover, buried subsoil SOC had higher apparent radiocarbon ages indicating that it is largely isolated from exchange with atmospheric CO2. We concluded that deep ploughing increased subsoil SOC storage and that the higher subsoil SOC stability is not only a result of selective preservation of more stable SOC fractions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05501-y |
| spellingShingle | Viridiana Alcántara Axel Don Lars Vesterdal Reinhard Well Rolf Nieder Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks Scientific Reports |
| title | Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks |
| title_full | Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks |
| title_fullStr | Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks |
| title_short | Stability of buried carbon in deep-ploughed forest and cropland soils - implications for carbon stocks |
| title_sort | stability of buried carbon in deep ploughed forest and cropland soils implications for carbon stocks |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05501-y |
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