Do grasslands act as a perpetual sink for carbon?
Abstract
It is increasingly commonly suggested that grasslands are a perpetual sink for carbon, and that just maintaining grasslands will yield a net carbon sink. I examine the evidence for this from repeated soil surveys, long term grassland experiments and simple mass balance calculations. I conclude that it is untenable that grasslands act as a perpetual carbon sink, and the most likely explanation for observed grassland carbon sinks over short periods is legacy effects of land use and land management prior to the beginning of flux measurement periods. Simply having grassland does not result is a carbon sink, but judicious management or previously poorly managed grasslands can increase the sink capacity. Given that grasslands are a large store of carbon, and that it is easier and faster for soils to lose carbon that it is for them to gain carbon, it is an important management target to maintain these stocks.
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Changes in SOC are greater at the beginning of crop establishment and then decline until they reach a steady state.
“This supports the view that changes in SOC are greater at the beginning of the crop establishment and then decline until they reach a steady state (Smith, 2014).”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops (2020) · cites this paper as Smith, 2014
The observed SOC accumulation pattern is consistent with acknowledged patterns of SOC accumulation and is also observed in agroforestry systems.
“This observed SOC gain has a subsequent levelling off of SOC accumulation rate and a decline when it stabilizes and reaches a steady state (Figure 1c), which is consistent with the acknowledged patterns of SOC accumulation (Smith, 2014), and also observed in agroforestry systems (Feliciano, Ledo, Hillier, & Nayak, 2018).”
From Changes in soil organic carbon under perennial crops (2020) · cites this paper as Smith, 2014
Carbon sinks or sources in grasslands depend heavily on previous land use, climate, and/or time since conversion.
“Others have argued that carbon sinks or sources in grasslands depend heavily on the previous land use, climate, and/or time since conversion (38).”
From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [38]
Without further disturbance, soils can become stable stores of carbon even if sequestration has stopped.
“Without further disturbance, soils can become stable stores of C even if sequestration has stopped15.”
From Risk to rely on soil carbon sequestration to offset global ruminant emissions (2023) · cites this paper as [15]
In most cases, soils find the new equilibrium within 100 years and do not sequester C anymore unless changing the land use.
“In most cases, the soils find the new equilibrium within 100 years and do not sequester C anymore unless changing the land use15,31”
From Risk to rely on soil carbon sequestration to offset global ruminant emissions (2023) · cites this paper as [15]
The high rate of C sequestration observed in our study may be the result of the recent management intervention from continuous grazing to AMP in 2010.
“The high rate of C sequestration observed in our study may be the result of the recent management intervention from continuous grazing to AMP in 2010 (Smith, 2014).”
From Impacts of soil carbon sequestration on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions in Midwestern USA beef finishing systems (2018) · cites this paper as Smith, 2014
Cites
Carbon losses from all soils across England and Wales 1978–2003
Bellamy, P. H., Loveland, P. J., Bradley, R. I., Lark, R. M., & Kirk, G. J. D. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04038 · Cited by 1,131 · see citing works
Full accounting of the greenhouse gas (CO2, N2O, CH4) budget of nine European grassland sites
Soussana, J. F., Allard, V., Pilegaard, K., Ambus, P., Amman, C., Campbell, C., Ceschia, E., Clifton-Brown, J., Czobel, S., Domingues, R., et al. (2007) · Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment · doi:10.1016/j.agee.2006.12.022 · Cited by 505 · cited 1× · see citing works
“How do we explain the flux measured by Soussana et al. (2007)?”
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The role of soil carbon in natural climate solutions
Bossio, D. A., Cook-Patton, S. C., Ellis, P. W., Fargione, J., Sanderman, J., Smith, P., Wood, S., Zomer, R. J., von Unger, M., Emmer, I. M., et al. (2020) · Nature Sustainability · doi:10.1038/s41893-020-0491-z · Cited by 1,273 · see citing works
Self-citationChanges in soil organic carbon under perennial crops
Ledo, A., Smith, P., Zerihun, A., Whitaker, J., Vicente‐Vicente, J. L., Qin, Z., McNamara, N. P., Zinn, Y. L., Llorente, M., Liebig, M., et al. (2020) · Global Change Biology · doi:10.1111/gcb.15120 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
“This supports the view that changes in SOC are greater at the beginning of the crop establishment and then decline until they reach a steady state (Smith, 2014).”
BackgroundResultSelf-citationStanley, P. L., Rowntree, J. E., Beede, D. K., DeLonge, M. S., & Hamm, M. W. (2018) · Agricultural Systems · doi:10.1016/j.agsy.2018.02.003 · Cited by 266 · see citing works
“The high rate of C sequestration observed in our study may be the result of the recent management intervention from continuous grazing to AMP in 2010 (Smith, 2014).”
BackgroundArneth, A., Olsson, L., Cowie, A., Erb, K.-H., Hurlbert, M., Kurz, W. A., Mirzabaev, A., & Rounsevell, M. D. A. (2021) · Annual Review of Environment and Resources · doi:10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-054809 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
“Others have argued that carbon sinks or sources in grasslands depend heavily on the previous land use, climate, and/or time since conversion (38).”
BackgroundSoil carbon sequestration in grazing systems: managing expectations
Godde, C. M., de Boer, I. J. M., Ermgassen, E. Z., Herrero, M., van Middelaar, C. E., Muller, A., Röös, E., Schader, C., Smith, P., van Zanten, H. H. E., et al. (2020) · Climatic Change · doi:10.1007/s10584-020-02673-x · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Self-citationHarris, Z. M., Alberti, G., Viger, M., Jenkins, J. R., Rowe, R., McNamara, N. P., & Taylor, G. (2017) · GCB Bioenergy · doi:10.1111/gcbb.12347 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Risk to rely on soil carbon sequestration to offset global ruminant emissions
Wang, Y., de Boer, I. J. M., Persson, U. M., Ripoll-Bosch, R., Cederberg, C., Gerber, P. J., Smith, P., & van Middelaar, C. E. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-43452-3 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Smith, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Aberdeen (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Smith, Pete
- ORCID
- Smith, Pete
- Venue
- Global Change Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-05-08
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 2708-2711
- ISSN
- 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2486
- OpenAlex
- W1968435195
- Cited by
- 262
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 14
- FWCI
- 24.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Change Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Scottish Government (CLC/858/11)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Keywords
- grassland, soil carbon, carbon sink, carbon sequestration, legacy effects, land use history, grassland management, soil carbon stocks, mass balance, long-term grassland experiment
- MeSH terms
- Conservation of Natural Resources, Models, Biological, Soil, Carbon Sequestration, Grassland
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