scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Carbon Storage in Two Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) Shade-Types and a Teak Plantation in the Moist Semi-deciduous Forest Zone of Ghana.

Author(s):  
Eunice Nimo ◽  
Evans Dawoe ◽  
John Tennyson Afele

on life, it is important that steps are taken to mitigate its effects. With the intensification of cocoa production, there has been a shift in traditional cocoa farming over the years leading to the removal of shade trees, hence, removal of carbon sinks. This study was carried out to compare the amount of carbon stored in cocoa ecosystems to that of a 20 years teak plantation and to calculate the trade-off of carbon between the two systems. Cocoa farms of similar ages (20 years) were selected in which three-subplots were demarcated on each farm at Piase in the Bosomtwe District. Tree Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) was measured and soils samples were collected and analyzed for organic carbon percentage and bulk density. One-way Analysis of Variance was used to analyze above and belowground tree carbon and two-way analysis of variance was used to analyze soil organic carbon stored. Teak plantation recorded higher carbon stock (739.33±2.24 Mg C.ha-1) compared to full sun cocoa (9.36±2.24 Mg C.ha-1). Soil organic carbon across the three farms showed significant (p = 0.0010) variations with depths. The 0-20 cm soil depth stored significantly more (p = 0.0000) organic carbon compared to 20-40 cm soil depth. Total soil carbon stored revealed significant differences amongst the various farms with the full sun (40.857±0.52 Mg C.ha-1) being the least whilst the teak plantation stored the highest (72.42±0.52 Mg C.ha-1). Total carbon (above-ground tree carbon + below-ground tree carbon + soil organic carbon) showed significant difference (p= 0.0000) between land use types with shaded cocoa farm (74.3±0.89 Mg C.ha-1), full sun cocoa farm (32.02±0.89Mg C.ha-1) and that of the teak plantation (950.91±0.89 Mg C.ha-1) respectively. Traditional cocoa ecosystem (shaded cocoa farms) has the potential to store carbon significantly higher than that of the full sun systems.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 45-52
Author(s):  
Bharat Mohan Adhikari ◽  
Pramod Ghimire

The present article is based on the study carried out to quantify aspect wise variation in Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) stock of Churia broad leaved forest in Bhedawari Community Forest of Nawalpur district, Nepal. The total amount of SOC stock in upto 30 cm soil depth in Bhedawari Community Forest was found to be 33.91 t/ha. Aspect had made significant difference upon SOC stock with p value of 0.002 (p<0.05). The total SOC was higher in the northern aspect (36.83 ± 1.34 t/ha) than in the southern aspect (30.98 ± 1.22 t/ha). Hence, soil carbon sequestration through community managed forest is a good strategy to mitigate the increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2.


Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Desyatkin ◽  
Shinya Iwasaki ◽  
Roman Desyatkin ◽  
Ryusuke Hatano

Central Yakutia is in one of the most northern agricultural centers of the world. In this territory a notable area of arable land was made by removing the boreal Taiga with the primary purpose of crop cultivation. Such a method of cultivation significantly changes soil total carbon (STC, soil organic carbon + soil carbonate carbon) balance, because of the destroyed upper humus horizon. Soil organic carbon (SOC) of cultivated arable lands is almost a half of that in forest. In abandoned arable lands with grass vegetation, the recovery of SOC has increased to 30% in comparison with cultivated arable lands. On arable lands recovering with new growth of trees, the SOC is related to the abandonment period. Soil carbonates carbon (SCC) content was significantly lower than SOC and showed significant difference among abandoned and other types of arable lands. Objectives of this study are to identify how STC stocks change in response to conversion of the forests to agricultural land and to analyze the arable land system’s recovery process after abandonment. Furthermore, after transformation of forest to arable land, a significant decrease of STC was observed, primarily due to mechanical loss after plant residue removal. It was also identified that the restoration and self-recovery of STC in abandoned arable lands of Central Yakutia continuously and slightly increase. Grass vegetation regenerates STC for 20 years. While the difference of average STC of forests and cultivated arable lands reached 41%, a new growth of forest on some abandoned arable land follows the tendency of STC decrease due to a low productivity level and suppressing effect on grass vegetation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heyun Wang ◽  
Zhi Dong ◽  
Jianying Guo ◽  
Hongli Li ◽  
Jinrong Li ◽  
...  

Grassland ecosystems, an important component of the terrestrial environment, play an essential role in the global carbon cycle and balance. We considered four different grazing intensities on a Stipa breviflora desert steppe: heavy grazing (HG), moderate grazing (MG), light grazing (LG), and an area fenced to exclude livestock grazing as the Control (CK). The analyses of the aboveground biomass, litter, belowground biomass, soil organic carbon and soil light fraction organic carbon were utilised to study the organic carbon stock characteristics in the S. breviflora desert steppe under different grazing intensities. This is important to reveal the mechanisms of grazing impact on carbon processes in the desert steppe, and can provide a theoretical basis for conservation and utilisation of grassland resources. Results showed that the carbon stock was 11.98–44.51 g m–2 in aboveground biomass, 10.43–36.12 g m–2 in plant litters, and 502.30–804.31 g m–2 in belowground biomass (0–40 cm). It was significantly higher in CK than in MG and HG. The carbon stock at 0–40-cm soil depth was 7817.43–9694.16 g m–2, and it was significantly higher in LG than in CK and HG. The total carbon stock in the vegetation-soil system was 8342.14–10494.80 g m–2 under different grazing intensities, with the largest value in LG, followed by MG, CK, and HG. About 90.54–93.71% of the total carbon in grassland ecosystem was reserved in soil. The LG and MG intensities were beneficial to the accumulation of soil organic carbon stock. The soil light fraction organic carbon stock was 484.20–654.62 g m–2 and was the highest under LG intensity. The LG and MG intensities were beneficial for soil nutrient accumulation in the desert steppe.


Soil Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Das ◽  
B. S. Dwivedi ◽  
V. K. Singh ◽  
S. P. Datta ◽  
M. C. Meena ◽  
...  

Decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) content is considered a key constraint for sustenance of rice–wheat system (RWS) productivity in the Indo-Gangetic Plain region. We, therefore, studied the effects of fertilisers and manures on SOC pools, and their relationships with crop yields after 18 years of continuous RWS. Total organic C increased significantly with the integrated use of fertilisers and organic sources (from 13 to 16.03gkg–1) compared with unfertilised control (11.5gkg–1) or sole fertiliser (NPKZn; 12.17gkg–1) treatment at 0–7.5cm soil depth. Averaged across soil depths, labile fractions like microbial biomass C (MBC) and permanganate-oxidisable C (PmOC) were generally higher in treatments that received farmyard manure (FYM), sulfitation pressmud (SPM) or green gram residue (GR) along with NPK fertiliser, ranging from 192 to 276mgkg–1 and from 0.60 to 0.75gkg–1 respectively compared with NPKZn and NPK+cereal residue (CR) treatments, in which MBC and PmOC ranged from 118 to 170mgkg–1 and from 0.43 to 0.57gkg–1 respectively. Oxidisable organic C fractions revealed that very labile C and labile C fractions were much larger in the NPK+FYM or NPK+GR+FYM treatments, whereas the less-labile C and non-labile C fractions were larger under control and NPK+CR treatments. On average, Walkley–Black C, PmOC and MBC contributed 29–46%, 4.7–6.6% and 1.16–2.40% towards TOC respectively. Integrated plant nutrient supply options, except NPK+CR, also produced sustainable high yields of RWS.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 5235-5244 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Chappell ◽  
N. P. Webb ◽  
R. A. Viscarra Rossel ◽  
E. Bui

Abstract. The debate remains unresolved about soil erosion substantially offsetting fossil fuel emissions and acting as an important source or sink of CO2. There is little historical land use and management context to this debate, which is central to Australia's recent past of European settlement, agricultural expansion and agriculturally-induced soil erosion. We use "catchment" scale (∼25 km2) estimates of 137Cs-derived net (1950s–1990) soil redistribution of all processes (wind, water and tillage) to calculate the net soil organic carbon (SOC) redistribution across Australia. We approximate the selective removal of SOC at net eroding locations and SOC enrichment of transported sediment and net depositional locations. We map net (1950s–1990) SOC redistribution across Australia and estimate erosion by all processes to be ∼4 Tg SOC yr−1, which represents a loss of ∼2% of the total carbon stock (0–10 cm) of Australia. Assuming this net SOC loss is mineralised, the flux (∼15 Tg CO2-equivalents yr−1) represents an omitted 12% of CO2-equivalent emissions from all carbon pools in Australia. Although a small source of uncertainty in the Australian carbon budget, the mass flux interacts with energy and water fluxes, and its omission from land surface models likely creates more uncertainty than has been previously recognised.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwa Tifafi ◽  
Marta Camino-Serrano ◽  
Christine Hatté ◽  
Hector Morras ◽  
Lucas Moretti ◽  
...  

Abstract. Despite the importance of soil as a large component of the terrestrial ecosystems, the soil compartments are not well represented in the Land Surface Models (LSMs). Indeed, soils in current LSMs are generally represented based on a very simplified schema that can induce a misrepresentation of the deep dynamics of soil carbon. Here, we present a new version of the IPSL-Land Surface Model called ORCHIDEE-SOM, incorporating the 14C dynamic in the soil. ORCHIDEE-SOM, first, simulates soil carbon dynamics for different layers, down to 2 m depth. Second, concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and its transport are modeled. Finally, soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition is considered taking into account the priming effect. After implementing the 14C in the soil module of the model, we evaluated model outputs against observations of soil organic carbon and 14C activity (F14C) for different sites with different characteristics. The model managed to reproduce the soil organic carbon stocks and the F14C along the vertical profiles. However, an overestimation of the total carbon stock was noted, but was mostly marked on the surface. Then, thanks to the introduction of 14C, it has been possible to highlight an underestimation of the age of carbon in the soil. Thereafter, two different tests on this new version have been established. The first was to increase carbon residence time of the passive pool and decrease the flux from the slow pool to the passive pool. The second was to establish an equation of diffusion, initially constant throughout the profile, making it vary exponentially as a function of depth. The first modifications did not improve the capacity of the model to reproduce observations whereas the second test showed a decrease of the soil carbon stock overestimation, especially at the surface and an improvement of the estimates of the carbon age. This assumes that we should focus more on vertical variation of soil parameters as a function of depth, mainly for diffusion, in order to upgrade the representation of global carbon cycle in LSMs, thereby helping to improve predictions of the future response of soil organic carbon to global warming.


Author(s):  
K.K. Vikrant ◽  
D.S. Chauhan ◽  
R.H. Rizvi

Climate change is one of the impending problems that have affected the productivity of agroecosystems which calls for urgent action. Carbon sequestration through agroforestry along altitude in mountainous regions is one of the options to contribute to global climate change mitigation. Three altitudes viz. lower (286-1200m), middle (1200-2000m), and upper (2000-2800m) have been selected in Tehri district. Ten Quadrates (10m × 10 m) were randomly selected from each altitude in agrisilviculture system. At every sampling point, one composite soil sample was taken at 30 cm soil depth for soil organic carbon analysis. For the purpose of woody biomass, Non destructive method and for crop biomass assessment destructive method was employed. Finally, aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass carbon (BGB), Total tree Biomass (TTB), Crop biomass (CB), Total Biomass (TB), Total biomass carbon (TBC), soil organic carbon (SOC), and total carbon stock (TC) status were estimated and variables were compared using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).The result indicated that AGB, BGB, TTB, CB , TB, TBC, SOC, and TC varied significantly (p < 0.05) across the altitudes. Results showed that total carbon stock followed the order upper altitude ˃ middle altitudes ˃ lower altitude. The upper altitude (2000-2800 m) AGB, BGB,TTB, TBC,SOC, and TC stock was estimated as 2.11 Mg ha-1 , 0.52 Mg ha-1, 2.63 Mg ha-1, 2.633 Mg ha-1, 1.18 Mg ha-1 , 26.53 Mg ha-1, 38.48 Mg ha-1 respectively, and significantly higher than the other altitudes. It was concluded that agrisilviculture system hold a high potential for carbon storage at temperate zones. Quercus lucotrichophora, Grewia oppositifolia and Melia azadirach contributed maximum carbon storage which may greatly contribute to the climate resilient green economy strategy and their conservation should be promoted.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calogero Schillaci ◽  
Sergio Saia ◽  
Aldo Lipani ◽  
Alessia Perego ◽  
Claudio Zaccone ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Legacy data are frequently unique sources of data for the estimation of past soil properties. With the rising concerns about greenhouse gases (GHG) emission and soil degradation due to intensive agriculture and climate change effects, soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration might change heavily over time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When SOC changes is estimated with legacy data, the use of soil samples collected in different plots (i.e., non-aligned data) may lead to biased results. The sampling schemes adopted to capture SOC variation usually involve the resampling of the original sample using a so called paired-site approach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the present work, a regional (Sicily, south of Italy) soil database, consisting of N=302 georeferenced soil samples from arable land collected in 1993 [1], was used to select coinciding sites to test a former temporal variation (1993-2008) obtained by a comparison of models built with data sampled in non-coinciding locations [2]. A specific sampling strategy was developed to spot SOC concentration changes from 1994 to 2017 in the same plots at the 0-30 cm soil depth and tested.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To spot SOC changes the minimum number of samples needed to have a reliable estimate of SOC variation after 23 years has been estimated. By applying an effect size based methodology, 30 out of 302 sites were resampled in 2017 to achieve a power of 80%, and an a=0.05.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After the collection of the 30 samples, SOC concentration in the newly collected samples was determined in lab using the same method&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A Wilcoxon test applied to the variation of SOC from 1994 to 2017 suggested that there was not a statistical difference in SOC concentration after 23 years (Z = -0.556; 2-tailed asymptotic significance = 0.578). In particular, only 40% of resampled sites showed a higher (not always significant) SOC concentration than in 2017.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This finding contrasts with a previous SOC concentration increase that was found in 2008 (75.8% increase when estimated as differences of 2 models built with non-aligned data) [2], when compared to 1994 observed data (Z = -9.119; 2-tailed asymptotic significance &lt; 0.001).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Such a result implies that the use of legacy data to estimate SOC concentration changes need soil resampling in the same locations to overcome the stochastic model errors. Further experiment is needed to identify the percentage of the sites to resample in order to align two legacy datasets in the same area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bibliography&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]Schillaci C, et al.,2019. A simple pipeline for the assessment of legacy soil datasets: An example and test with soil organic carbon from a highly variable area. CATENA.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2]Schillaci C, et al., 2017. Spatio-temporal topsoil organic carbon mapping of a semi-arid Mediterranean region: The role of land use, soil texture, topographic indices and the influence of remote sensing data to modelling. Sci Total Environ.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 63-67
Author(s):  
Tshering Dolma Lama ◽  
Ram Asheshwar Mandal

A study was carried on ten leasehold forests of Katakuti VDC, Dolakha district to estimate the carbon stock. Random sampling was used to collect the biophysical data of trees/ poles, sapling, root and leaf litter, herb and grass. Then, the biomass was calculated using the respective equation and the calculated biomass stock was converted into carbon stock multiplying with 0.47. Similarly, the soil samples were collectewd from different depths of 0-10 cm, 10-20 cm and 20-30 cm to determine the soil organic carbon. Lastly, all analyzed data were compiled to get total carbon stocks. The result showed that the estimated total carbon stock per ha was found to be highest in Srijana leasehold forest with 125.493 t C/ha. The estimated total carbon stock of 10 leasehold forest was found to be 1439.033 tons. Here, Leasehold forests have been an emerging and successful example in conserving forests in epal. So, it is recommended to extend such studies in other parts of Nepal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/init.v5i0.10255   The Initiation 2013 Vol.5; 63-67


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