Modelling the impact of agricultural management on soil carbon stocks at the regional scale: the role of lateral fluxes
Abstract
Agricultural management has received increased attention over the last decades due to its central role in carbon (C) sequestration and greenhouse gas mitigation. Yet, regardless of the large body of literature on the effects of soil erosion by tillage and water on soil organic carbon ( SOC ) stocks in agricultural landscapes, the significance of soil redistribution for the overall C budget and the C sequestration potential of land management options remains poorly quantified. In this study, we explore the role of lateral SOC fluxes in regional scale modelling of SOC stocks under three different agricultural management practices in central Belgium: conventional tillage ( CT ), reduced tillage ( RT ) and reduced tillage with additional carbon input ( RT +i). We assessed each management scenario twice: using a conventional approach that did not account for lateral fluxes and an alternative approach that included soil erosion‐induced lateral SOC fluxes. The results show that accounting for lateral fluxes increased C sequestration rates by 2.7, 2.5 and 1.5 g C m −2 yr −1 for CT , RT and RT +i, respectively, relative to the conventional approach. Soil redistribution also led to a reduction of SOC concentration in the plough layer and increased the spatial variability of SOC stocks, suggesting that C sequestration studies relying on changes in the plough layer may underestimate the soil's C sequestration potential due to the effects of soil erosion. Additionally, lateral C export from cropland was in the same of order of magnitude as C sequestration; hence, the fate of C exported from cropland into other land uses is crucial to determine the ultimate impact of management and erosion on the landscape C balance. Consequently, soil management strategies targeting C sequestration will be most effective when accompanied by measures that reduce soil erosion given that erosion loss can balance potential C uptake, particularly in sloping areas.
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Emerging evidence that stabilized SOM is of microbial rather than direct plant origin may offer potential to manipulate the soil-plant microbiome to enhance C sequestration in the rhizosphere.
“And emerging evidence that stabilized SOM is of microbial rather than direct plant origin 34,39 may offer a potential to manipulate the soil-plant microbiome to enhance C sequestration in the rhizosphere.”
From Climate-smart soils (2016) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Authors
- Nadeu, E., Gobin, A., Fiener, P., van Wesemael, B., & van Oost, K.
- Affiliations
- UCLouvain (BE)
- Flemish Institute for Technological Research (BE)
- University of Augsburg (DE)
- Earth and Life Institute – TECLIM Université catholique de Louvain Place Louis Pasteur 3 1348 Louvain‐la‐Neuve Belgium
- Corresponding author
- Nadeu, Elisabet
- Venue
- Global Change Biology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2015-04-09
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 3181-3192
- ISSN
- 1354-1013 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2486
- OpenAlex
- W2107167335
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 6
- FWCI
- 12.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Change Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Libraries (submittedVersion)
- OPUS (Augsburg University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Action de Recherche Concerteé (09/14-022)
- 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 › Environmental Engineering › Soil Geostatistics and Mapping
- Keywords
- soil organic carbon stocks, lateral carbon fluxes, soil erosion, carbon sequestration, agricultural management, reduced tillage, conventional tillage, soil redistribution, plough layer, land use change
- MeSH terms
- Agriculture, Belgium, Carbon, Models, Theoretical, Soil, Carbon Sequestration
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