Soil carbon sequestration and land‐use change: processes and potential

When agricultural land is no longer used for cultivation and allowed to revert to natural vegetation or replanted to perennial vegetation, soil organic carbon can accumulate. This accumulation process essentially reverses some of the effects responsible for soil organic carbon losses from when the land was converted from perennial vegetation. We discuss the essential elements of what is known about soil organic matter dynamics that may result in enhanced soil carbon sequestration with changes in land‐use and soil management. We review literature that reports changes in soil organic carbon after changes in land‐use that favour carbon accumulation. This data summary provides a guide to approximate rates of SOC sequestration that are possible with management, and indicates the relative importance of some factors that influence the rates of organic carbon sequestration in soil. There is a large variation in the length of time for and the rate at which carbon may accumulate in soil, related to the productivity of the recovering vegetation, physical and biological conditions in the soil, and the past history of soil organic carbon inputs and physical disturbance. Maximum rates of C accumulation during the early aggrading stage of perennial vegetation growth, while substantial, are usually much less than 100 g C m^?2 y^?1. Average rates of accumulation are similar for forest or grassland establishment: 33.8 g C m^?2 y^?1 and 33.2 g C m^?2 y^?1, respectively. These observed rates of soil organic C accumulation, when combined with the small amount of land area involved, are insufficient to account for a significant fraction of the missing C in the global carbon cycle as accumulating in the soils of formerly agricultural land.     

A stable carbon isotope study of dissolved inorganic carbon cycling in a softwater lake

The dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) cycle in a softwater lake was studied using natural variations of the stable isotopes of carbon,¹²C and¹³C. During summer stratification there was a progressive decrease in epilimnion DIC concentration with a concomitant increase in ¹³C_DIC), due to preferential uptake of¹²C by phytoplankton and a change in the dominant CO₂ source from inflow andin situ oxidation to invasion from the atmosphere. There was an increase in hypolimnion DIC concentration throughout summer with a concomitant general decrease in ¹³C_DIC from oxidation of the isotopically light particulate organic carbon that sank down through the thermocline from the epilimnion.Mass balance calculations of DI¹²C and DI¹³C in the epilimnion for the summer (June 23–September 25) yield a mean rate of net conversion of DIC to organic carbon (C_org) of 430 ± 150 moles d^-1 (6.5 ± 1.8 m moles m^-2 d^-1. Net CO₂ invasion from the atmosphere was 420 ± 120 moles d^-1 (6.2 ± 1.8 m moles m^-2 d^-1) with an exchange coefficient of 0.6 ± 0.3m d^-1. These results imply that at least for the summer months the phytoplankton obtained about 90% of their carbon from atmosphere CO₂. About 50% of CO₂ invasion and conversion to C_org for the summer occurred during a two week interval in mid-summer.DIC concentration increased in the hypolimnion at a rate of 350 ± 70 moles DIC d^-1 during summer stratification. The amount of DIC added to the hypolimnion was equivalent to 75 ± 20% of net conversion of DIC to C_org in the euphotic zone over spring and summer implying rapid degradation of POC in the hypolimnion. The ¹³C of DIC added to the deep water (-22.) was too heavy to have been derived from oxidation of particulate organic carbon alone. About 20% of the added DIC must have diffused from hypolimnetic sediments where relatively heavy CO₂ (-7) was produced by a combination of POC oxidation and as a by-product of methanogenesis.     

A comparison of soil climate and biological activity along an elevation gradient in the eastern Mojave Desert

Summary Soil temperature, moisture, and CO₂ were monitored at four sites along an elevation transect in the eastern Mojave Desert from January to October, 1987. Climate appeared to be the major factor controlling CO₂ partial pressures, primarily through its influence of rates of biological reactions, vegetation densities, and organic matter production. With increasing elevation, and increasing actual evapotranspiration, the organic C, plant density, and the CO₂ content of the soils increased. Between January and May, soil CO₂ concentrations at a given site were closely related to variations in soil temperature. In July and October, temperatures had little effect on CO₂, presumably due to low soil moisture levels. Up to 75% of litter placed in the field in March was lost by October whereas, for the 3 lower elevations, less than 10% of the litter placed in the field in April was lost through decomposition processes.     

Exogenous inorganic carbon sources for photosynthesis in seawater by members of the Fucales and the Laminariales (Phaeophyta): ecological and taxonomic implications

Summary Characteristics of inorganic carbon assimilation by photosynthesis in seawater were investigated in six species of the Fucales (five Fucaceae, one Cystoseiraceae) and four species of the Laminariales (three Laminariaceae, one Alariaceae) from Arbroath, Scotland. All of the algae tested could photosynthesise faster at high external pH values than the uncatalysed conversion of HCO ₃ ^- to CO₂ can occur, i.e. can use external HCO ₃ ^- . They all had detectable extracellular carbonic anhydrase activity, suggesting that HCO ₃ ^- use could involve catalysis of external CO₂ production, a view supported to some extent by experiments with an inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase. All of the algae tested had CO₂ compensation concentrations at pH 8 which were lower than would be expected from diffusive entry of CO₂ supplying RUBISCO as the initial carboxylase, consistent with the operation of energized entry of HCO ₃ ^- and / or CO₂ acting as a CO₂ concentrating mechanism. Quantitative differences among the algae examined were noted with respect to characteristics of inorganic C assimilation. The most obvious distinction was between the eulittoral Fucaceae, which are emersed for part of, or most of, the tidal cycle, and the other three families (Cystoseiraceae, Laminariaceae, Alariaceae) whose representatives are essentially continually submersed. The Fucaceae examined are able to photosynthesise at high pH values, and have lower CO₂ compensation concentrations, and lower K_1/2 values for inorganic C use in photosynthesis, at pH 8, than the other algae tested. Furthermore, the Fucaceae are essentially saturated with inorganic C for photosynthesis at the normal seawater concentration at pH 8 and 10°C. These characteristics are consistent with the dominant role of a CO₂ concentrating mechanism in CO₂ acquisition by these plants. Other species tested have characteristcs which suggest a less effective HCO ₃ ^- use and CO₂ concentrating mechanism, with the Laminariaceae being the least effective; unlike the Fucaceae, photosynthesis by these algae is not saturated with inorganic C in normal seawater. Taxonomic and ecological implications of these results are considered in relation to related data in the literature.     

The response of stomata to CO2 relates to its effect on respiration and ATP level

External ATP enhanced stomatal opening of Commelina communis L. differently from EDTA. ATP was more effective in opening stomata than EDTA, when both were applied in amounts yielding equivalent free Ca²⁺ concentration. The stimulation by ATP depended upon its de-phosphorylation and was not due to the P₁ released. Hence an energetical contribution of external ATP appears possible. Increase in CO₂ concentration increased the stimulation of stomatal opening by ATP and diminished the internal ATP level, ATP/(ADP+AMP) ratio and respiration rate.     

Diagnostic parameters for selecting against novel spruce (Picea abies) decline: IV. Response of photosynthesis and transpiration to SO2+NO2 exposures

The dose- and time-response effects of 3 days of 6 h day-time sequential exposures to NO₂, SO₂ and SO₂+NO₂ of 0.45–1.81 μl l⁻¹ (ppm) SO₂ and 1.50–7.65 μl l⁻¹ NO₂ on photosynthesis, transpiration and dark respiration were examined for nine Carpatho-Ukrainian half-sib families and a population from the GFR ('Westerhof') of Norway spruce [ Piecea abies (L.) Karst.], all in their 5th growing season.
SO₂+NO₂ inhibited photosynthesis and transpiration and stimulated dark respiration more than SO₂ alone. SO₂ and SO₂+NO₂ at the lowest concentrations inhibited night transpiration, but increased it at the highest concentration, the strongest effects being obtained with combined exposures. Photosynthesis of the different half-sib families was affected significantly differently by SO₂+NO₂ exposures. NO₂ alone had no effects.
Sensitivity to transpiration decline correlated negatively with branch density. Height of trees correlated postitively with decline sensitivity in the seed orchard. The distribution of photosynthesis and transpiration sensitivities over all tested half-sib families correlated negatively with the distribution of decline sensitivity of their parents in a rural Danish seed orchard. The relative photosynthesis and transpiration sensitivities may thus serve as diagnostic parameters for selecting against novel spruce decline.     

Mineralization of carbon and nitrogen in soil samples taken from three fertilized pine stands: Long-term effects

Seven years after fertilization the rate of CO₂ production in the soil samples taken from the organic horizons of a poor pine forest site (Calluna vulgaris site type), treated with urea or ammonium nitrate with lime, was lower than that in the unfertilized soil. The same trend was also observed in samples of theEmpetrum-Calluna site type 14 years after fertilization. In the more fertileVaccinium myrtillus site type these rapidly-soluble N fertilizers had a long-term enhancing effect on the production of CO₂. Apatite and biotite eliminated the decreasing effect of urea on the production of CO₂. One reason for this might be the long-term increase in soil pH caused by apatite and biotite, or their constituents (Ca, Mg, K, P). Nitroform (a slow-releasing N fertilizer) had no statistically significant effect on the production of CO₂ in soil samples from any of the forest types. Despite the high N mineralization in the samples from nitroform fertilized soils there was no nitrification, and the high content of total N indicated that after nitroform fertilization the losses of N were low.The correlation between the net mineralization values for C (CO₂ production) and N was poor. However, multiple linear regression analysis, which also took into account the effect of nutrients and pH, indicated that there was a link between the mineralization of C and N.