Soil and land use factors control organic carbon status and accumulation in agricultural soils of Lower Austria

Abstract. In the UK, as organo-mineral soils are a significant store of soil organic carbon (SOC), they may become increasingly favoured for the expansion of upland forestry. It is important, therefore, to assess the likely impacts on SOC of this potentially major land use change. Currently, these assessments rely on modelling approaches which assume that afforestation of organo-mineral soils is "carbon neutral". This review evaluates this assumption in two ways. Firstly, UK information from the direct measurement of SOC change following afforestation is examined in the context of international studies. Secondly, UK data on the magnitude and direction of the major fluxes in the carbon cycle of semi-natural upland ecosystems are assessed to identify the likely responses of the fluxes to afforestation of organo-mineral soils. There are few directly relevant measurements of SOC change following afforestation of organo-mineral soils in the UK uplands but there are related studies on peat lands and agricultural soils. Overall, information on the magnitude and direction of change in SOC with afforestation is inconclusive. Data on the accumulation of litter beneath conifer stands have been identified but the extent to which the carbon held in this pool is incorporated into the stable soil carbon reservoir is uncertain. The effect of afforestation on most carbon fluxes is small because the fluxes are either relatively minor or of the same magnitude and direction irrespective of land use. Compared with undisturbed moorland, particulate organic carbon losses increase throughout the forest cycle but the data are exclusively from plantation conifer forests and in many cases pre-date current industry best practice guidelines which aim to reduce such losses. The biggest uncertainty in flux estimates is the relative magnitude of the sink for atmospheric carbon as trees grow and mature compared with that lost during site preparation and harvesting. Given the size of this flux relative to many of the others, this should be a focus for future carbon research on these systems.

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Effect of land use change on soil organic carbon

Agriculture (Pol nohospodárstvo) ◽

10.1515/agri-2016-0002 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 62 (1) ◽

pp. 10-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gabriela Barančíková ◽

Jarmila Makovníková ◽

Ján Halas

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Arable Land ◽

Statistical Parameter ◽

Arable Soils ◽

Permanent Grassland ◽

Before And After ◽

Aliphatic Carbon

Abstract The direction of changes and conversion of soil organic carbon (SOC) is in most current ecosystems influenced by human activity. Soil Science and Conservation Research Institute is responsible for monitoring the agricultural soils in a five-year cycle. One part of the soil monitoring involves the determination of the soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Further, we followed the conversion of arable land on grassland during more than 20 years of monitoring period at some locations where changes in land use occurred. Ten places on basic network and 2 places on key monitoring localities in which arable land have been converted into grassland were identified. About 50 percent of studied soils converted into permanent grassland were Cambisols. The other converted soil types were Luvic Stagnosol, Stagnic Regosol, Mollic Fluvisol, and Stagnic Luvisol. The results showed that after the third monitoring cycle (2002), increase of SOC was observed in all the localities, with the change in land use. Statistical parameter (t-test) confirmed significant differences between the set of average SOC values before and after the land use conversion. The chemical structure of humic acids (HA) isolated from arable soil and permanent grassland indicated increasing of aliphatic carbon content in grassland HA. More aromatic and stabile were HA isolated from arable soils.

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Quantification of organic carbon pools for Austria’s agricultural soils using a soil information system

Canadian Journal of Soil Science ◽

10.4141/s04-083 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 85 (Special Issue) ◽

pp. 491-498 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

M. H. Gerzabek ◽

F. Strebl ◽

M. Tulipan ◽

S. Schwarz

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Information System ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

C:N Ratio ◽

Balance Model ◽

Main Portion ◽

Soil Information ◽

Soil Surveys

Within the framework of the project “Austrian Carbon Balance Model”, we estimated soil organic carbon (OC) content for the agricultural land of Austria. The basic chemical and physical data were obtained from the national electronic soil information system BORIS (Boden Rechnergestütztes Informtions System). The latter data were obtained through soil surveys performed over the past 10 yr. The BORIS data were corrected for soil gravel content, bulk densities and differences in chemical analytical methods used for soil OC. Our estimation also showed the following ranking for soil OC content (0–50 cm) under different land use systems: vineyards (57.6 t C ha-1) ~ cropland (59.5 t C ha-1) < orchards/gardenland (78 t C ha-1) ~ intensive grassland (81 t C ha-1) < extensive grassland (119 t C ha-1). Although the main portion of soil carbon is stored in topsoils (0–20 cm) in all land-use classes, deeper soil layers (20–50 cm) contribute significantly to the overall inventory (between 18. 2 and 27.2 t C ha-1), but appear to be less influenced by land use. A total OC storage in Austria’s agricultural soils of 284 Mt was estimated. A west-east gradient of OC storage in agricultural soils of different Federal Provinces was observed. Under Austrian conditions, extensively used grassland plays an important role for OC-storage. Wide C:N ratios in these soils suggest accumulation of poorly humified organic material and slow OC turnover. Key words: Carbon sequestration, soil organic matter, soil humus, soil nitrogen content, C:N ratio

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Land use changes induced soil organic carbon variations in agricultural soils of Fuyang County, China

Journal of Soils and Sediments ◽

10.1007/s11368-013-0684-4 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 981-988 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Lefeng Qiu ◽

Jinxia Zhu ◽

Yuanhong Zhu ◽

Yang Hong ◽

Ke Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

Land Use Changes

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What do carbon fractions and C:N ratios tell us about the origin of carbon in German agricultural soils?

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18540 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Florian Schneider ◽

Axel Don

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Texture ◽

Agricultural Soils ◽

C:N Ratio ◽

Mineral Soil ◽

Carbon Stocks ◽

Parent Material ◽

Deep Roots ◽

Depth Gradients

Agricultural soils in Germany store about 2.5 Pg (1 Pg = 1015 g) of organic carbon in 0-100 cm depth. If this carbon was all powdered charcoal, it would fill a train with 61 million carriages, extending 2.5 times the distance to the moon. This study aimed at better understanding the origin of the organic carbon contained in mineral soils under agricultural use. For this, total organic carbon (TOC), C:N ratios and particulate organic carbon (POC) of 2,939 crop- and grassland sites scattered in a 8x8 km grid across Germany were evaluated. RandomForest algorithms were trained to predict TOC, C:N, POC and their respective depth gradients down to 100 cm based on pedology, geology, climate, land-use and management data. The data originated from the first German Agricultural Soil Inventory, which was completed in 2018, comprising 14,420 mineral soil samples and 36,163 years of reported management.In 0-10 cm, land-use and/or texture were the major drivers for TOC, C:N and POC. At larger depths, the effect of current land-use vanished while soil texture remained important. Additionally, with increasing depth, soil parent materials and/or pedogenic processes gained in importance for explaining TOC, C:N and POC. Colluvial material, buried topsoil, fluvio-marine deposits and loess showed significantly higher TOC and POC contents and a higher C:N ratios than soil that developed from other parent material. Also, Podzols and Chernozems showed significantly higher TOC and POC contents and a higher C:N ratio in the subsoil than other soil types at similar depths because of illuvial organic matter deposits and bioturbation, respectively. In 30-70 cm depth, many sandy sites in north-western Germany showed TOC, POC and C:N values above average, which was a legacy of historic peat- and heathland cover. The depth gradients of TOC, POC and C:N showed only little dependence on soil texture suggesting that they were robust towards differences in carbon stabilization due to organo-mineral associations. Instead, these depth gradients were largely driven by land-use (redistribution of carbon in cropland by ploughing) and variables describing historic carbon inputs (e.g. information on topsoil burial). Hardpans with packing densities > 1.75 g cm-3 intensified the depth gradients of TOC, POC and C:N significantly, suggesting that such densely packed layers restricted the elongation of deep roots and therefore reduced organic carbon inputs into the subsoil.Today&#8217;s soil organic carbon stocks reflect past organic carbon inputs. Considering that in 0-10 cm, current land-use superseded the effect of past land-cover on TOC while land-use showed no effect on POC and C:N, we conclude that topsoil carbon stocks derived from relatively recent carbon inputs (< 100 years) with high turnover. In the subsoil, however, most carbon originated from the soil parent material or was translocated from the topsoil during soil formation. High C:N ratios and POC content of buried topsoils confirm low turnover rates of subsoil carbon. The contribution of recent, root-derived carbon inputs to subsoils was small but significant. Loosening of wide-spread hardpans could facilitate deeper rooting and increase carbon stocks along with crop yield.

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ANALYSIS OF FLOOD PRONE AREAS IN NAGAN RAYA REGENCY ACEH PROVINCE

MALAYSIAN JOURNAL OF COMPUTING ◽

10.24191/mjoc.v5i1.7805 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 414

Author(s):

Amsar Yunan

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Flood Hazard ◽

Parameter Analysis ◽

Thematic Maps ◽

Aceh Province ◽

Object Area ◽

Use Factors ◽

Hazard Levels ◽

Flood Prone Areas

Maps or remote sensing can be interpreted as the process of reading using various sensors where data collected remotely can be analyzed to obtain information about the object, area or phenomenon. In this study, the author develops a flood disaster mapping information system applying overlays with scoring between the parameters. The determinant factors to provide flood hazard levels includes rainfall factors in the dasarian unit, land-use factors and land-use arbitrary factors. Of all these parameters, a scoring process will be carried out by assigning weights and values according to their respective classifications, then an overlay process will be performed using ArcGIS software. The author conducted this study in Nagan Raya Regency since this area experiences flooding annually. Framing a thematic map of flood-prone areas in Nagan Raya Regency was designed using the flood hazard method. Spatial data that has been presented in the form of thematic maps as parameters are land use maps, landform maps, and dasarian rainfall maps (per 10 daily). The design of thematic maps that are prone to flooding is done by overlapping (overlay process). In contrast, the determination of the classification is done by adding scores to each parameter, with low, medium and high hazard levels. Parameter analysis shows the level of flood vulnerability in Nagan Raya Regency of each district, namely Beutong: high 0.21%, medium 13.68%, low 86.12%. Seunagan District: high 51.17%, medium 48.83%, low 0%. Seunagan Timur District: high 10.07%, medium 46.18%, low 43.75%. Kuala Subdistrict: high 29.66%, medium 68.99%, low 1.35%. Darul Makmur District: high 8.57%, medium 63.37%, low 28.06%. From the overall results of the study, it can be concluded that the danger of flooding in Nagan Raya Regency with a level of vulnerability: high 9.92%, moderate 42.65% and low 47.43%.

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Influence of Slope Gradient and Aspect on Soil Organic Carbon Content in the Region of Niš, Serbia

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13158332 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (15) ◽

pp. 8332

Author(s):

Snežana Jakšić ◽

Jordana Ninkov ◽

Stanko Milić ◽

Jovica Vasin ◽

Milorad Živanov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Spatial Distribution ◽

Organic Carbon ◽

Soil Organic Carbon ◽

Slope Aspect ◽

Available Phosphorus ◽

Organic Carbon Content ◽

Slope Gradient ◽

Phosphorus And Potassium ◽

Uncultivated Land

Topography-induced microclimate differences determine the local spatial variation of soil characteristics as topographic factors may play the most essential role in changing the climatic pattern. The aim of this study was to investigate the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC) with respect to the slope gradient and aspect, and to quantify their influence on SOC within different land use/cover classes. The study area is the Region of Niš in Serbia, which is characterized by complex topography with large variability in the spatial distribution of SOC. Soil samples at 0–30 cm and 30–60 cm were collected from different slope gradients and aspects in each of the three land use/cover classes. The results showed that the slope aspect significantly influenced the spatial distribution of SOC in the forest and vineyard soils, where N- and NW-facing soils had the highest level of organic carbon in the topsoil. There were no similar patterns in the uncultivated land. No significant differences were found in the subsoil. Organic carbon content was higher in the topsoil, regardless of the slope of the terrain. The mean SOC content in forest land decreased with increasing slope, but the difference was not statistically significant. In vineyards and uncultivated land, the SOC content was not predominantly determined by the slope gradient. No significant variations across slope gradients were found for all observed soil properties, except for available phosphorus and potassium. A positive correlation was observed between SOC and total nitrogen, clay, silt, and available phosphorus and potassium, while a negative correlation with coarse sand was detected. The slope aspect in relation to different land use/cover classes could provide an important reference for land management strategies in light of sustainable development.

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