Soil organic carbon stocks, distribution, and composition affected by historic land use changes on adjacent sites
Abstract
Historic alterations in land use from forest to grassland and cropland to forest were used to determine impacts on carbon (C) stocks and distribution and soil organic matter (SOM) characteristics on adjacent Cambisols in Eastern Germany. We investigated a continuous Norway spruce forest (F-F), a former cropland afforested in 1930 (C-F), and a grassland deforested in 1953 (F-G). For C and N stocks, we sampled the A and B horizons of nine soil pits per site. Additionally, we separated SOM fractions of A and B horizons by physical means from one central soil pit per pedon. To unravel differences of SOM composition, we analyzed SOM fractions by ¹³C-CPMAS NMR spectroscopy and radiocarbon analysis. For the mineral soils, differences in total C stocks between the sites were low (F-F = 8.3 kg m⁻²; C-F = 7.3 kg m⁻²; F-G = 8.2 kg m⁻²). Larger total C stocks (+25%) were found under continuous forest compared with grassland, due to the C stored within the organic horizons. Due to a faster turnover, the contents of free particulate organic matter (POM) were lower under grassland. High alkyl C/O/N-alkyl C ratios of free POM fractions indicated higher decomposition stages under forest (1.16) in relation to former cropland (0.48) and grassland (0.33). Historic management, such as burning of tree residues, was still identifiable in the subsoils by the composition and ¹⁴C activity of occluded POM fractions. The high potential of longer lasting C sequestration within fractions of slower turnover was indicated by the larger amounts of claybound C per square meter found under continuous forest in contrast to grassland.
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For forest systems, new carbon inputs from plant residues can enter relatively fast decomposable soil organic carbon pools, particularly if the soil had a low clay content.
“For forest systems [142], it has been shown that new C inputs from plant residues can enter relatively fast decomposable SOC pools, particularly if the soil had a low clay content [148].”
From Carbon Sequestration by Perennial Energy Crops: Is the Jury Still Out? (2015) · cites this paper as [148]
The amount of carbon occluded, considered a main index of long-term sequestered carbon in soils under forest and under Miscanthus, remains to be quantified.
“The amount of C occluded, which is considered as a main index of long-term sequestered C in soils under forest [148] as well under Miscanthus [11], remains to be quantified.”
From Carbon Sequestration by Perennial Energy Crops: Is the Jury Still Out? (2015) · cites this paper as [148]
It has never been proven experimentally that a multi-pool chain model can represent the decreasing decomposition of residues due to chemical and physical protection.
“Second, it has never been proven experimentally that a multi-pool chain model can represent the decreasing decomposition of residues due to chemical and physical protection [118, 148, 170].”
From Carbon Sequestration by Perennial Energy Crops: Is the Jury Still Out? (2015) · cites this paper as [148]
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Deep soil organic matter—a key but poorly understood component of terrestrial C cycle
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- Authors
- Mueller, C. W., & Koegel-Knabner, I.
- Affiliations
- Technical University of Munich (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Mueller, Carsten W.
- ORCID
- Mueller, Carsten W.
- Venue
- Biology and Fertility of Soils
- Published
- 2008-10-18
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 347-359
- ISSN
- 0178-2762 (ISSN-L)
- 1432-0789
- OpenAlex
- W1966409932
- Cited by
- 127
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 8.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Biology and Fertility of Soils (publishedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Keywords
- soil organic carbon stocks, land use change, Norway spruce forest, grassland, Cambisol, soil organic matter fractions, particulate organic matter, organic matter decomposition, carbon-14, 13C NMR, carbon sequestration, soil horizons
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