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Soil organic carbon dynamics 75 years after land-use change in perennial grassland and annual wheat agricultural systems

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Abstract

The dynamics of roots and soil organic carbon (SOC) in deeper soil layers are amongst the least well understood components of the global C cycle, but essential if soil C is to be managed effectively. This study utilized a unique set of land-use pairings of harvested tallgrass prairie grasslands (C4) and annual wheat croplands (C3) that were under continuous management for 75 years to investigate and compare the storage, turnover and allocation of SOC in the two systems to 1 m depth. Cropland soils contained 25 % less SOC than grassland soils (115  and 153 Mg C ha−1, respectively) to 1 m depth, and had lower SOC contents in all particle size fractions (2000–250, 250–53, 53–2 and <2 μm), which nominally correspond to SOC pools with different stability. Soil bulk δ13C values also indicated the significant turnover of grassland-derived SOC up to 80 cm depth in cropland soils in all fractions, including deeper (>40 cm) layers and mineral-associated (<53 μm) SOC. Grassland soils had significantly more visible root biomass C than cropland soils (3.2 and 0.6 Mg ha−1, respectively) and microbial biomass C (3.7 and 1.3 Mg ha−1, respectively) up to 1 m depth. The outcomes of this study demonstrated that: (i) SOC pools that are perceived to be stable, i.e. subsoil and mineral-associated SOC, are affected by land-use change; and, (ii) managed perennial grasslands contained larger SOC stocks and exhibited much larger C allocations to root and microbial pools than annual croplands throughout the soil profile.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank: John Mai for extensive field and laboratory work; Sandy Jones and David Ussiri for assistance with laboratory analyses; and Steve Culman, David W. Hopkins, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful reviews of earlier drafts of the manuscript. A portion of the funding for the study was provided by the The Land Institute’s graduate research program.

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  1. Joshua W. Beniston

    Present address: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Jornada Experimental Range, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Carbon Management and Sequestration Center, School of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Joshua W. Beniston & Rattan Lal

  2. Penn State Extension, The Pennsylvania State University, Nazareth, PA, 18064, USA

    S. Tianna DuPont

  3. Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, DC, 20523, USA

    Jerry D. Glover

  4. Department of Sustainable Systems and Grassland Science, Rothamsted Research North Wyke, Okehampton, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK

    Jennifer A. J. Dungait

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Correspondence to Joshua W. Beniston.

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Beniston, J.W., DuPont, S.T., Glover, J.D. et al. Soil organic carbon dynamics 75 years after land-use change in perennial grassland and annual wheat agricultural systems. Biogeochemistry 120, 37–49 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-9980-3

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