Long-term variability of root production in bioenergy crops from ingrowth core measurements

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheyenne Lei ◽  
Michael Abraha ◽  
Jiquan Chen ◽  
Yahn-Jauh Su
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Biomass Productivity ◽  
Biomass Accumulation ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Growing Season Length ◽  
Ingrowth Core ◽  
Biofuel Crops

Abstract Aims Long-term determination of root biomass production upon land use conversion to biofuel crops is rare. To assess land-use legacy influences on belowground biomass accumulation, we converted 22-year-old Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands and 50+-year-old agricultural (AGR) lands to corn (C), switchgrass (Sw) and restored prairie (Pr) biofuel crops. We maintained one CRP grassland as a reference (Ref). We hypothesized that land use history and crop type have significant effects on root density, with perennial crops on CRP grasslands having a higher root biomass productivity, while corn grown on former agricultural lands produce the lowest root biomass. Methods The ingrowth core method was used to determine in situ ingrowth root biomass, alongside measurements of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP). Ancillary measurements, including air temperature, growing season length, and precipitation were used to examine their influences on root biomass production. Important Findings Root biomass productivity was the highest in unconverted CRP grassland (1716 g m -2 yr -1), and lowest in corn fields (526 g m -2 yr -1). All perennial sites converted from CRP and AGR lands had lower root biomass and ANPP in the first year of planting but peaked in 2011 for switchgrass and a year later for restored prairies. Ecosystem stability was higher in restored prairies (AGR-Pr: 4.3 ± 0.11; CRP-Pr: 4.1 ± 0.10), with all monocultures exhibiting a lower stability. Root biomass production was positively related to ANPP (R  2 = 0.40). Overall, attention should be given to root biomass accumulation in large-scale biofuel production as it is a major source of carbon sequestration.

scholarly journals Shoot and root biomass production in semi-arid shrublands exposed to long-term experimental N input

2021 ◽  
Vol 754 ◽  
pp. 142204
Author(s):  
George L. Vourlitis ◽  
Jeff Jaureguy ◽  
Leticia Marin ◽  
Charlton Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Production ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Arid Shrublands ◽  
N Input ◽  
Semi Arid ◽  
Shoot And Root Biomass

scholarly journals Long-Term Growth of Alfalfa Increased Soil Organic Matter Accumulation and Nutrient Mineralization in a Semi-Arid Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Song ◽  
Chao Fang ◽  
Zi-Qiang Yuan ◽  
Feng-Min Li
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Organic Matter ◽  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Sweet Clover ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Biomass Density ◽  
Nutrient Mineralization ◽  
Semi Arid

Land use patterns and vegetation coverage in semi-arid areas of the Loess Plateau have undergone great changes due to the implementation of the “Grain for Green” project. The introduction of legume pasture species, such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis L.), is one of the most efficient methods of vegetation restoration and reconstruction in this region. However, there is a need for an effective assessment of the root system distribution and its interaction with soil after long-term introduction. An experiment involving the introduction of alfalfa and sweet clover on abandoned farmlands was initiated in 2003 to assess the long-term effects. After 17 years, root and soil samples at depths of 0–20 and 20–60 cm were collected to characterize the root biomass, root carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P), soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), soil organic carbon (SOC), and soil N and P. The results showed that the root biomass density of alfalfa in the 0–20 and 20–60 cm layers (63.72 and 12.27 kg m–3, respectively) were significantly higher than for sweet clover (37.43 and 8.97 kg m–3, respectively) and under natural abandonment (38.92 and 9.73 kg m–3, respectively). The SOC, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), available phosphorus (AP), nitrate-nitrogen (NO3–-N), MBC and MBN in the 0–20 and 20–60 cm layers were higher after alfalfa introduction compared with sweet clover introduction and natural abandonment, although the ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+-N) concentration in the 0–20 cm layer was lower. There were significantly positive correlations between root biomass density and both soil nutrients and microbial biomass, while there was a negative correlation between the soil NH4+-N and root biomass density. These results indicate that alfalfa root growth improved soil organic matter accumulation and nutrient mineralization. The accumulation and mineralization of soil nutrients also guaranteed root and microorganism growth. Therefore, it was concluded that alfalfa introduction will promote soil nutrients immobilization and mineralization and may enable sustainable land use in the semi-arid region of the Loess Plateau, China.

scholarly journals Spatially variable hydrologic impact and biomass production tradeoffs associated with Eucalyptus cultivation for biofuel production in Entre Rios, Argentina

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azad Heidari ◽  
David Watkins Jr. ◽  
Alex Mayer ◽  
Tamara Propato ◽  
Santiago Verón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Land Use Conversion ◽  
Eucalyptus Plantations ◽  
Shallow Soils ◽  
Entre Rios

Abstract. Climate change and energy security promotes using renewable sources of energy such as biofuels. High woody biomass production achieved from short rotation intensive plantations is an appealing strategy that is growing in many parts of the world. However, broad expansion of bioenergy feedstock production may have significant environmental consequences. This study investigates the watershed-scale hydrological impacts of eucalyptus plantations for energy production in a humid subtropical watershed in Entre Rios province, Argentina. A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated and validated for streamflow, leaf area index (LAI), and biomass production cycles. The model was used to simulate various eucalyptus plantation scenarios that followed physically-based rules for land use conversion (in various sizes and locations in the watershed) to study hydrological effects, biomass production and the green water footprint of energy production. SWAT simulations indicated that the most limiting factor for plant growth was shallow soils causing seasonal water stress. This resulted in a wide range of biomass productivity throughout the watershed. An optimization algorithm was developed to find the best location for eucalyptus development regarding highest productivity with least water impact. Eucalyptus plantations had higher evapotranspiration rates among terrestrial land cover classes; therefore, intensive land use conversion to eucalyptus caused a decline in streamflow, with February, January and March being the most affected months. October was the least-affected month hydrologically, since high rainfall rates overcame the canopy interception and higher ET rates of eucalyptus in this month. Results indicate that, on average, producing 1 kg of biomass in this region uses 0.8 m3 of water, and the green water footprint of producing 1 m3 fuel is approximately 2150 m3 water, or 57 m3 water per GJ of energy, which is lower than reported values for wood-based ethanol, sugar cane ethanol and soybean biodiesel.

scholarly journals The impacts of biofuel crops on local biodiversity: a global synthesis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Jane Tudge ◽  
Andy Purvis ◽  
Adriana De Palma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Sustainable Land Use ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Biofuel Crops ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
Generation Biofuel

AbstractConcerns about the impacts of climate change have led to increased targets for biofuel in the global energy market. First-generation biofuel crops contain oil, sugar or starch and are usually also grown for food, whereas second-generation biofuel is derived from non-food sources, including lignocellulosic crops, fast-growing trees, crop residues and waste. Biofuel production drives land-use change, a major cause of biodiversity loss, but there is limited knowledge of how different biofuel crops affect local biodiversity. Therefore, a more detailed understanding could inform more environmentally-conscious decisions about where to grow which biofuel crops. We synthesised data from 116 sources where a potential biofuel crop was grown and estimated how two measures of local biodiversity, species richness and total abundance, responded to different crops. Local species richness and abundance were 37% and 49% lower at sites planted with first-generation biofuel crops than in sites with primary vegetation. Soybean, wheat, maize and oil palm had the worst effects; the worst affected regions were Asia and Central and South America; and plant species richness and vertebrate abundance were the worst affected biodiversity measures. Second-generation biofuels had smaller, but still significant, effects: species richness and abundance were 19% and 25%, respectively, lower in such sites than in primary vegetation. Our models suggest that land clearance to cultivate biofuel crops reduces local biodiversity. However, the yield of biofuel from different crops influences the biodiversity impacts per unit of energy generated, and the geographic and taxonomic variation in effects are also relevant for making sustainable land-use decisions.

scholarly journals Indigenous Fire-Managed Landscapes in Southeast Australia during the Holocene—New Insights from the Furneaux Group Islands, Bass Strait

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Adeleye ◽  
Simon G. Haberle ◽  
Simon E. Connor ◽  
Janelle Stevenson ◽  
David M.J.S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Recurrence Rate ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Biomass Accumulation ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Southeast Australia ◽  
Managed Landscapes ◽  
Indigenous Land

Indigenous land use and climate have shaped fire regimes in southeast Australia during the Holocene, although their relative influence remains unclear. The archaeologically attested mid-Holocene decline in land-use intensity on the Furneaux Group islands (FGI) relative to mainland Tasmanian and SE Australia presents a natural experiment to identify the roles of climate and anthropogenic land use. We reconstruct two key facets of regional fire regimes, biomass (vegetation) burned (BB) and recurrence rate of fire episodes (RRFE), by using total charcoal influx and charcoal peaks in palaeoecological records, respectively. Our results suggest climate-driven biomass accumulation and dryness-controlled BB across southeast Australia during the Holocene. Insights from the FGI suggest people elevated the recurrence rate of fire episodes through frequent cultural burning during the early Holocene and reduction in recurrent Indigenous cultural burning during the mid–late Holocene led to increases in BB. These results provide long-term evidence of the effectiveness of Indigenous cultural burning in reducing biomass burned and may be effective in stabilizing fire regimes in flammable landscapes in the future.

scholarly journals The impacts of biofuel crops on local biodiversity: a global synthesis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Jane Tudge ◽  
Andy Purvis ◽  
Adriana De Palma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Species Richness ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Biofuel Production ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Biofuel Crops ◽  
Species Richness And Abundance ◽  
Generation Biofuel

AbstractConcerns about the environmental impacts of climate change have led to increased targets for biofuel in the global energy market. First-generation biofuel crops contain oil, sugar or starch and are usually also grown for food, whereas second-generation biofuel is derived from non-food sources, including lignocellulosic crops, fast-growing trees, crop residues and waste. Increasing biofuel production drives land-use change, a major cause of biodiversity loss, but there is limited knowledge of how different first- and second-generation biofuel crops affect local biodiversity. A more detailed understanding could support better decisions about the net environmental impacts of biofuels. We synthesised data from 116 sources where a potential biofuel crop was grown and estimated how two measures of local biodiversity, species richness and total abundance, responded to different crops. Local species richness and abundance were 37% and 49% lower at sites planted with first-generation biofuel crops than in sites with primary vegetation. Soybean, wheat, maize and oil palm had the worst effects; the worst affected regions were Asia and Central and South America; and plant species richness and vertebrate abundance were the worst affected biodiversity measures. Second-generation biofuels had significantly smaller effects: species richness and abundance were 19% and 25%, respectively, lower in such sites than in primary vegetation. Our models suggest that land clearance to generate biofuel results in negative impacts on local biodiversity. However, the geographic and taxonomic variation in effects, and the variation in yields among different crops, are all relevant for making the most sustainable land-use decisions.

scholarly journals Climate effects on land management and stream nitrogen concentrations in small agricultural catchments in Norway

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1747-1758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Wenng ◽  
Marianne Bechmann ◽  
Tore Krogstad ◽  
Eva Skarbøvik
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Linear Mixed Model ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Season Length ◽  
Agricultural Catchments ◽  
Growing Season Length ◽  
Nitrogen Concentrations

Abstract Land use and climate change can impact water quality in agricultural catchments. The objectives were to assess long-term monitoring data to quantify changes to the thermal growing season length, investigate farmer adaptations to this and examine these and other factors in relation to total nitrogen and nitrate water concentrations. Data (1991–2017) from seven small Norwegian agricultural catchments were analysed using Mann–Kendall Trend Tests, Pearson correlation and a linear mixed model. The growing season length increased significantly in four of seven catchments. In catchments with cereal production, the increased growing season length corresponded to a reduction in nitrogen concentrations, but there was no such relationship in grassland catchments. In one cereal catchment, a significant correlation was found between the start of sowing and start of the thermal growing season. Understanding the role of the growing season and other factors can provide additional insight into processes and land use choices taking place in agricultural catchments.

Long-term effect of heavy metal loads on the mycorrhizal colonization and metal uptake of barley

2010 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
B. Biró ◽  
A. Füzy ◽  
K. Posta
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Root System ◽  
Biomass Production ◽  
Contaminated Soils ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Root Biomass ◽  
Infection Intensity ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Am Fungi

A pot experiment was designed to study the colonization of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) host plant. Soils of the pots were collected from a long-term field microelement loading experiment on calcareous chernozem soil twelve years after 13 heavy metals (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr and Zn) were applied once in four doses (0, 30, 90 and 270 mg element·kg -1 d.w.). The biomass production and element accumulation of the host plant, the various colonization values of the arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF) – such as colonization intensity (M %), arbusculum richness (A %) in the root system and the sporulation intensity (g -1 dry soil) in the rhizosphere – were measured. When considering the twelve-year adaptation process of the AM fungal populations at the various metal loads, a relatively balanced inside mycorrhiza colonization was found, suggesting the potentials for the selection of tolerant fungi in metal contaminated soils. The balanced infection intensity (M %) of the AM fungi and their common strategies with the host plant have resulted a nonsignificant shoot and root biomass production of barley in general. Mycorrhiza sporulation in the root system proved to be much variable and indicated the toxicity of metals and metal rates. Cd, Pb and Sr elements significantly reduced spore numbers, while a value of 34 spores·g -1 soil was counted in the case of Ni in comparison to the control’s 22 spores·g -1 soil value. Stress-defending strategies of the fungal–plant symbiosis, such as the increased arbusculum richness (A %) could be established for the Hg and Pb rates. In the case of Cd an increased root biomass production became a tool for stress alleviation and reduced the metal allocation towards the shoots. Mycorrhiza fungi are part of the common plant–microbe interactions and appropriate defending mechanisms in metal contaminated soils.

Central Otago - Built on gold, growing on grass.

2014 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Barrie J. Wills
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Land Use ◽  
National Economy ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Economic Potential ◽  
District Council ◽  
Definition Of

A warm welcome to our "World of Difference" to all delegates attending this conference - we hope your stay is enjoyable and that you will leave Central Otago with an enhanced appreciation of the diversity of land use and the resilient and growing economic potential that this region has to offer. Without regional wellbeing the national economy will struggle to grow, something Central Government finally seems to be realising, and the Central Otago District Council Long Term Plan 2012-2022 (LTP) signals the importance of establishing a productive economy for the local community which will aid in the economic growth of the district and seeks to create a thriving economy that will be attractive to business and residents alike. Two key principles that underpin the LTP are sustainability and affordability, with the definition of sustainability being "… development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document