TY - JOUR
T1 - Previous land use and climate influence differences in soil organic carbon following reforestation of agricultural land with mixed-species plantings
AU - England, Jacqueline
AU - Paul, Keryn
AU - Madhavan, Dinesh
AU - Baker, Thomas
AU - Read, Zoe
AU - Wilson, Brian
AU - Cavagnaro, T
AU - Lewis, Tom
AU - Perring, Michael
AU - Herrmann, Tim
AU - Polglase, Philip
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was largely funded by the Australian Government’s Filling the Research Gap Program and CSIRO , with additional financial support from Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and Central Tablelands Local Land Council . For assistance with field sampling/processing samples we thank Amanda Schapel (two SA sites), Micah Davies, Gordon McLachlan, John Larmour, Melanie Bullock and Pandora Holliday (15 NSW sites), Simon Murphy, Tarek Murshed, Tom Fairman, Rob Law, Ben Smith and Gabi Szegedy (17 Victorian sites, including the 10 new riparian sites), Jarrod Hodgson and Phil De Zylva (five Victorian sites and two NSW sites, including the three intensive sites), and Tim Morald and Andrew Wherrett (2 WA sites). We also thank Debbie Crawford for assistance with preparation of Fig. 1, John Larmour for completing the new inventories for biomass estimation, Hamish Luck for assistance with compiling information from FullCAM, Michael Davy and Geoff Minchin for assistance with locating NSW field sites, John Raison for initial advice on sampling design, Jeff Baldock for discussions on SOC fractions, landholders for permission to access their properties, and Nellie Hobley and Daniel Mendham for providing comments that improved the manuscript. We wish to thank the Australian Research Council for supporting SCC from an ARC Linkage grant ( LP0990038 ), TRC via the award of a Future Fellowship ( FT120100463 ) and MPP through an ARC Laureate Fellowship to Richard J. Hobbs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 .
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Reforestation of agricultural land with mixed-species environmental plantings (native trees and shrubs) can contribute to mitigation of climate change through sequestration of carbon. Although soil carbon sequestration following reforestation has been investigated at site- and regional-scales, there are few studies across regions where the impact of a broad range of site conditions and management practices can be assessed. We collated new and existing data on soil organic carbon (SOC, 0-30 cm depth, N = 117 sites) and litter (N = 106 sites) under mixed-species plantings and an agricultural pair or baseline across southern and eastern Australia. Sites covered a range of previous land uses, initial SOC stocks, climatic conditions and management types. Differences in total SOC stocks following reforestation were significant at 52% of sites, with a mean rate of increase of 0.57 ± 0.06 Mg C ha-1 y-1. Increases were largely in the particulate fraction, which increased significantly at 46% of sites compared with increases at 27% of sites for the humus fraction. Although relative increase was highest in the particulate fraction, the humus fraction was the largest proportion of total SOC and so absolute differences in both fractions were similar. Accumulation rates of carbon in litter were 0.39 ± 0.02 Mg C ha-1 y-1, increasing the total (soil + litter) annual rate of carbon sequestration by 68%. Previously-cropped sites accumulated more SOC than previously-grazed sites. The explained variance differed widely among empirical models of differences in SOC stocks following reforestation according to SOC fraction and depth for previously-grazed (R2 = 0.18-0.51) and previously-cropped (R2 = 0.14-0.60) sites. For previously-grazed sites, differences in SOC following reforestation were negatively related to total SOC in the pasture. By comparison, for previously-cropped sites, differences in SOC were positively related to mean annual rainfall. This improved broad-scale understanding of the magnitude and predictors of changes in stocks of soil and litter C following reforestation is valuable for the development of policy on carbon markets and the establishment of future mixed-species environmental plantings.
AB - Reforestation of agricultural land with mixed-species environmental plantings (native trees and shrubs) can contribute to mitigation of climate change through sequestration of carbon. Although soil carbon sequestration following reforestation has been investigated at site- and regional-scales, there are few studies across regions where the impact of a broad range of site conditions and management practices can be assessed. We collated new and existing data on soil organic carbon (SOC, 0-30 cm depth, N = 117 sites) and litter (N = 106 sites) under mixed-species plantings and an agricultural pair or baseline across southern and eastern Australia. Sites covered a range of previous land uses, initial SOC stocks, climatic conditions and management types. Differences in total SOC stocks following reforestation were significant at 52% of sites, with a mean rate of increase of 0.57 ± 0.06 Mg C ha-1 y-1. Increases were largely in the particulate fraction, which increased significantly at 46% of sites compared with increases at 27% of sites for the humus fraction. Although relative increase was highest in the particulate fraction, the humus fraction was the largest proportion of total SOC and so absolute differences in both fractions were similar. Accumulation rates of carbon in litter were 0.39 ± 0.02 Mg C ha-1 y-1, increasing the total (soil + litter) annual rate of carbon sequestration by 68%. Previously-cropped sites accumulated more SOC than previously-grazed sites. The explained variance differed widely among empirical models of differences in SOC stocks following reforestation according to SOC fraction and depth for previously-grazed (R2 = 0.18-0.51) and previously-cropped (R2 = 0.14-0.60) sites. For previously-grazed sites, differences in SOC following reforestation were negatively related to total SOC in the pasture. By comparison, for previously-cropped sites, differences in SOC were positively related to mean annual rainfall. This improved broad-scale understanding of the magnitude and predictors of changes in stocks of soil and litter C following reforestation is valuable for the development of policy on carbon markets and the establishment of future mixed-species environmental plantings.
KW - Carbon sequestration
KW - Environmental plantings
KW - Humus organic carbon
KW - Labile organic carbon
KW - Plant litter
KW - Resistant organic carbon
KW - Revegetation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84966707916&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.mendeley.com/research/previous-land-climate-influence-differences-soil-organic-carbon-following-reforestation-agricultural
U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2016.04.026
DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2016.04.026
M3 - Article
SN - 0167-8809
VL - 227
SP - 61
EP - 72
JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment
ER -