Environmental Consequences of the Demise in Swidden Cultivation in Southeast Asia: Carbon Storage and Soil Quality |
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Authors: | Thilde Bech Bruun Andreas de Neergaard Deborah Lawrence Alan D Ziegler |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;(2) Department of Agriculture and Ecology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark;(3) Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA;(4) Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore |
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Abstract: | The effects of swidden cultivation on carbon storage and soil quality are outlined and compared to the effects of the intensified
production systems that swidden systems of Southeast Asia transform into. Time-averaged aboveground carbon stocks decline
by about 90% if the long fallow periods of traditional swidden cultivation are reduced to 4 years and by about 60% if swidden
cultivation is converted to oil palm plantations. Stocks of soil organic carbon (SOC) in tree plantations are 0–40% lower
than stocks in swidden cultivation, with the largest losses found in mechanically established oil palm plantations. Impacts
of tree plantations on soil quality are to a large extent determined by management. Conversion of swiddening to continuous
annual cropping systems brings about substantial losses of time-averaged aboveground carbon stocks, reductions of SOC stocks
and generally leads to declining soil quality. Knowledge of carbon storage in belowground biomass of tree based systems of
the tropics is sparse but failure to include this pool in carbon inventories may significantly underestimate the total biomass
of the systems. Moreover, studies that consider the ecological reasons behind farmers’ land use decisions as well as spatial
variability in biogeophysical and edaphological parameters are needed to evaluate the effects of the ongoing land use transitions
in Southeast Asia. |
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Keywords: | Swidden cultivation Land use transformation Soil quality Soil organic carbon Time-averaged aboveground carbon stocks |
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