Carbon Stocks in Physically-Protected Soil Organic Matter Pools of European Forests, Grasslands and Arable Lands
Abstract
Soils represent the largest stock of C in most terrestrial ecosystems: a large research effort worldwide is devoted to quantify these stocks and their mean residence time, and to model changes in response to future scenarios of climate and land use. As a consequence, a fairly good understanding of the processes controlling C flows from the plant roots and littering into soil organic matter pools and, eventually, back to the atmosphere has been achieved. Yet, the characterization of functionally meaningful soil organic matter pools, which can be measured and applied in models remains an unfulfilled goal. Results will be presented on the organic carbon stocks of soils from the CARBOEUROPE network. Soil samples collected at 3 broad-leaved and 3 coniferous forests, 3 croplands and 3 pastures, along a depth gradient, were separated by size and density, and the isolated fractions analysed for C content and isotopic composition. The data set will be interpreted in terms of soil mineralogical properties, site climate and land use. Additionally, the stable C isotope values of physically-protected C pools from this dataset and the stable and radioactive C isotope datasets originated from other key isotope labelling studies, will be used to characterize the fractions isolated and to provide a mechanistic understanding of C flows among them
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AGUFM.B51E..04C
- Keywords:
-
- 0402 Agricultural systems;
- 0414 Biogeochemical cycles;
- processes;
- and modeling (0412;
- 0793;
- 1615;
- 4805;
- 0428 Carbon cycling (4806);
- 0454 Isotopic composition and chemistry (1041;
- 4870);
- 0486 Soils/pedology (1865)