Changes in carbon storage in temperate humic loamy soils after forest clearing and continuous corn cropping in France |
| |
Authors: | Dominique Arrouays Philippe Pelissier |
| |
Institution: | (1) S.E.S.C.P.F., Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, B.P. 81, 33140 Pont de la Maye, France;(2) Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs des Travaux Agricoles, 1 cours du Général de Gaulle, 33175 Gradignan, France |
| |
Abstract: | Soil samples from forest and agricultural sites in three areas of southwest France were collected to determine the effect
of forest conversion to continuous intensive corn cropping with no organic matter management on soil organic carbon (C) content.
Soils were humic loamy soils and site characteristics that may affect soil C were as uniform as possible (slope, elevation,
texture, soil type, vegetation).
Three areas were selected, with adjacent sites of various ages of cultivation (3 to 35 yr), and paired control forest sites.
The ploughed horizon (0-Dt cm) and the Dt-50 cm layer were collected at each agricultural site. In forest sites, each 10 cm
layer was collected systematically down to 1 meter depth. Carbon concentrations were converted to total content to a given
depth as the product of concentration, depth of sample and bulk density, and expressed in units of kg m-2. For each site and each sampled layer, the mineral mass of soil was calculated, in order to base comparisons on the same
soil mass rather than the same depth.
The pattern of C accumulation in forest soils showed an exponential decrease with depth. Results suggested that soil organic
carbon declined rapidly during the first years of cultivation, and at a slower rate thereafter. This pattern of decrease can
be fitted by a bi-exponential model assuming that initial soil organic carbon can be separated into two parts, a very labile
pool reduced during the first rapid decline and more refractory fractions oxidizing at a slower rate. Sampling to shallow
depths (0-Dt cm) resulted in over-estimation of the rate of carbon release in proportion to the initial amount of C, and in
under-estimation of the total loss of C with age. The results for the 0–50 cm horizon indicated that losses of total carbon
average about 50% in these soils, ranging in initial carbon content from 19 to 32.5 kg m-2. Carbon release to the atmosphere averaged 0.8 kg m-2 yr-1 to 50 cm depth during the first 10 years of cultivation. The results demonstrate that temperate soils may also be an important
source of atmospheric carbon, when they are initially high in carbon content and then cultivated intensively with no organic
matter management. |
| |
Keywords: | changes in soil corn crop forest clearing France soil organic carbon temperate soils |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|