Abstract
A published meta-analysis of worldwide data showed soil carbon decreasing following land use change from pasture to conifer plantation. A paired site (a native pasture with Themeda triandra dominant, and an adjacent Pinus radiata plantation planted onto the pasture 16 years ago) was set up as a case study to assess the soil carbon reduction and the possible reason for the reduction under pine, including the change in fine root (diameter <2 mm) dynamics (production and mortality). Soil analysis confirmed that soil carbon and nitrogen stocks to 100 cm under the plantation were significantly less than under the pasture by 20 and 15%, respectively. A 36% greater mass of fine root was found in the soil under the pasture than under the plantation and the length of fine root was about nine times greater in the pasture. Much less fine root length was produced and roots died more slowly under the plantation than under the pasture based on observations of fine root dynamics in minirhizotrons. The annual inputs of fine root litter to the top 100 cm soil, estimated from soil coring and minirhizotron observations, were 6.3 Mg dry matter ha−1 year−1 (containing 2.7 Mg C and 38.9 kg N) under the plantation, and 9.7 Mg ha−1 year−1 (containing 3.6 Mg C and 81.4 kg N) under the pasture. The reduced amount of carbon, following afforestation of the pasture, in each depth-layer of the soil profile correlated with the lower length of dead fine roots in the layer under the plantation compared with the pasture. This correlation was consistent with the hypothesis that the soil carbon reduction after land use change from pasture to conifer plantation might be related to change of fine root dynamics, at least in part.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andersson P, Majdi H (2005) Estimating root longevity at sites with long periods of low root mortality. Plant Soil 276:9–14
Backeus S, Wikstrom P, Lamas T (2005) A model for regional analysis of carbon sequestration and timber production. For Ecol Manag 216:28–40
Baddeley JA, Watson CA (2005) Influences of root diameter, tree age, soil depth and season on fine root survivorship in Prunus avium. Plant Soil 276:15–22
Cannell MGR (1996) Forests as carbon sinks mitigating the greenhouse effect. Commonw For Rev 75:92–99
Claus A, George E (2005) Effect of stand age on fine-root biomass and biomass distribution in three European forest chronosequences. Can J For Res 35:1617–1625
Coleman DC (1976) A review of root production processes and their influence on biota in terrestrial ecosystems. In: Anderson JM, MacFadeyen A (eds) The role of terrestrial and aquatic organisms in decomposition processes. Science Publications, Oxford, UK, pp 417–434
Cuevas E, Brown S, Lugo AE (1991) Aboveground and belowground organic-matter storage and production in a tropical pine plantation and a paired broadleaf secondary forest. Plant Soil 135:257–268
Davis JP, Haines B, Coleman D, Hendrick R (2004) Fine root dynamics along an elevational gradient in the southern Appalachian Mountains, USA. For Ecol Manag 187:19–34
Fahey TJ, Hughes JW (1994) Fine-root dynamics in a northern hardwood forest ecosystem, Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, NH. J Ecol 82:533–548
Gifford RM (1992) Interaction of carbon dioxide with growth-limiting environmental factors in vegetation productivity: implications for the global carbon cycle. Advances in Bioclimatology 1:24–58
Gifford RM (2000) Changes in soil carbon following land use changes in Australia. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Development Project, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 118 pp
Gifford RM, Roderick ML (2003) Soil carbon stocks and bulk density: spatial or cumulative mass coordinates as a basis of expression? Glob Chang Biol 9:1507–1514
Gordon WS, Jackson RB (2000) Nutrient concentrations in fine roots. Ecology 81:275–280
Grier CC, Vogt KA, Keyes MR, Edmonds RL (1981) Biomass distribution and above- and below-ground production in young and mature Abies amabilis zone ecosystems of the Washington Cascades. Can J For Res 11:155–167
Guo LB, Gifford RM (2002) Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis. Glob Chang Biol 8:345–360
Guo LB, Halliday MJ, Siakimotu SJM, Gifford RM (2005) Fine root production and litter input: its effects on soil carbon. Plant Soil 272:1–10
Guo LB, Halliday MJ, Gifford RM (2006) Fine root decomposition under grass and pine seedlings in controlled environmental conditions. Appl Soil Ecol 33:22–29
Hoen HF, Solberg B (1994) Potential and economic efficiency of carbon sequestration in forest biomass through silvicultural management. For Sci 40:429–451
Isbell RF (1996) The Australian soil classification. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, Australia, 144 pp
Jackson RB, Canadell J, Ehleringer JR, Mooney HA, Sala OE, Schulze ED (1996) A global analysis of root distributions for terrestrial biomes. Oecologia 108:389–411
Janssens IA, Sampson DA, Curiel-Yuste J, Carrara A, Ceulemans R (2002) The carbon cost of fine root turnover in a Scots pine forest. For Ecol Manag 168:231–240
Johnson MG, Tingey DT, Phillips DL, Storm MJ (2001) Advancing fine root research with minirhizotrons. Environ Exp Bot 45:263–289
Joslin JD, Wolfe MH (1999) Disturbances during minirhizotron installation can affect root observation data. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 63:218–221
Keith DA (2004) Ocean shores to desert dunes: the native vegetation of New South Wales and the ACT. The Department of Environment and Conservation, Hurstville NSW 2220, Australia, 353 pp
Kirschbaum MUF, Guo LB, Gifford RM (2007) Observed and modelled soil carbon and nitrogen changes after planting a Pinus radiata stand onto former pasture. Soil Bio Biochem (in press)
Konopka B, Yuste JC, Janssens IA, Ceulemans R (2005) Comparison of fine root dynamics in Scots pine and pedunculate oak in sandy soil. Plant Soil 276:33–45
Kosola KR, Eissenstat DM, Graham JH (1995) Root demography of mature citrus trees – the influence of Phytophthora nicotianae. Plant Soil 171:283–288
Luo Y, Hui D, Zhang D (2006) Elevated CO2 stimulates net accumulations of carbon and nitrogen in land ecosystems: a meta-analysis. Ecology 87:53–61
Majdi H, Pregitzer K, Moren AS, Nylund JE, Agren GI (2005) Measuring fine root turnover in forest ecosystems. Plant Soil 276:1–8
McClaugherty CA, Aber JD, Melillo JM (1982) The role of fine roots in the organic matter and nitrogen budgets of two forested ecosystems. Ecology 63:1481–1490
Nambiar EKS (1987) Do nutrients retranslocate from fine roots? Can J For Res 17:913–918
Ostonen I, Lohmus K, Pajuste K (2005) Fine root biomass, production and its proportion of NPP in a fertile middle-aged Norway spruce forest: comparison of soil core and ingrowth core methods. For Ecol Manag 212:264–277
Persson H, Vonfircks Y, Majdi H, Nilsson LO (1995) Root distribution in a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) stand subjected to drought and ammonium-sulfate application. Plant Soil 169:161–165
Steele SJ, Gower ST, Vogel JG, Norman JM (1997) Root mass, net primary production and turnover in aspen, jack pine and black spruce forests in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. Tree Physiol 17:577–587
Steinaker DF, Wilson SD (2005) Belowground litter contributions to nitrogen cycling at a northern grassland–forest boundary. Ecology 86:2825–2833
Tate KR, Ross DJ, O’Brien BJ, Kelliher FM (1993) Carbon storage and turnover, and respiratory activity, in the litter and soil of an old-growth southern beech (Nothofagus) forest. Soil Biol Biochem 25:1601–1612
Trettin CC, Johnson DW, Todd DE (1999) Forest nutrient and carbon pools at Walker Branch Watershed: changes during a 21-year period. Soil Sci Soc Am Proc 63:1436–1448
Turner J, Lambert M (2000) Change in organic carbon in forest plantation soils in Eastern Australia. For Ecol Manag 133:231–247
Vogt KA, Grier CC, Vogt DJ (1986) Production, turnover, and nutrient dynamics of aboveground and belowground detritus of world forests. Adv Ecol Res 15:303–377
Vogt KA, Vogt DJ, Palmiotto PA, Boon P, Ohara J, Asbjornsen H (1996) Review of root dynamics in forest ecosystems grouped by climate, climatic forest type and species. Plant Soil 187:159–219
Waring RH, Landsberg JJ, Williams M (1998) Net primary production of forests: a constant fraction of gross primary production? Tree Physiol 18:129–134
Wells CE, Glenn DM, Eissenstat DM (2002) Changes in the risk of fine-root mortality with age: a case study in peach, Prunus persica (Rosaceae). Am J Bot 89:79–87
West JB, Espeleta JF, Donovan LA (2004) Fine root production and turnover across a complex edaphic gradient of a Pinus palustris–Aristida stricta savanna ecosystem. For Ecol Manag 189:397–406
Yin XW, Perry JA, Dixon RK (1989) Fine-root dynamics and biomass distribution in a Quercus ecosystem following harvesting. For Ecol Manag 27:159–177
Zak DR, Pregitzer KS, King JS, Holmes WE (2000) Elevated atmospheric CO2, fine roots and the response of soil microorganisms: a review and hypothesis. New Phytol 147:201–222
Acknowledgments
Michael Halliday, Bruce Robertson and Semy Siakimotu are acknowledged for their technical support. ACT Forests and Ken McInnes (pasture landowner) kindly gave permission to use the Kowen Forest site and the pasture site respectively. NSW Forests lent us the rotating soil corer for fine root sampling.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Per Ambus.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Guo, L.B., Wang, M. & Gifford, R.M. The change of soil carbon stocks and fine root dynamics after land use change from a native pasture to a pine plantation. Plant Soil 299, 251–262 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9381-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-007-9381-7