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Soil-Carbon-Climate-Change-Csa-News Research Roundup NDUSTRY I & H C R A ESE R soil and climateCARBON change 4 CSA News V54 N06 June 2009 R ESE by Daniel Hillel and Cynthia Rosenzweig carbon dioxide, from about 270 ppm to more than 380 ppm. Concurrently, there has been an increase in the A content of other radiatively active gases (the so-called R he earth’s ecosystem constitutes a bio-thermo- C greenhouse gases), such as methane and nitrous oxide. dynamic machine that is driven by solar energy H The effect, so far, appears to be a rise of more than 0.6°C and the exchanges of water, oxygen, carbon di- & T in the global average temperature. This warming trend oxide, and other components in the pedosphere–hydro- is expected to increase markedly in the coming decades, sphere–atmosphere continuum. Green plants in the ter- unless strong measures are taken to mitigate it. I restrial domain perform photosynthesis by absorbing NDUSTRY atmospheric CO and reducing it to forms of organic 2 Carbon Exchange in the Terrestrial Domain carbon in combination with soil-derived water, while utilizing the energy of sunlight. In the process, radi- The soils of the world, with the biota they support, ant energy is transformed into chemical energy that is are major absorbers, depositories, and releasers of or- stored in the molecular bonds of organic compounds ganic carbon. Soils altogether contain an estimated produced by the plants. This in turn provides the basis 1,700 Gt (billion metric tons) to a depth of 1 m and as for the food chain, which sustains all forms of animal much as 2,400 Gt to a depth of 2 m (Fig. 1). An estimated life. additional 560 Gt is contained in terrestrial biota (plants Roughly 50% of the carbon photosynthesized by and animals). In contrast, the carbon in the atmosphere is estimated to total 750 Gt. Thus, the amount of organic plants is returned to the atmosphere as CO2 in the pro- cess of plant respiration. The rest, being the carbon as- carbon in soils is more than four times the amount of similated and incorporated in leaves, stems, and roots, is deposited on or within the soil. There, organic com- pounds are ingested by a diverse biotic community, including primary decomposers (bacteria and fungi) and an array of mesofauna and macrofauna (nema- todes, insects, earthworms, rodents, etc.). The ultimate product of organic matter decay in the soil is a complex of relatively stable compounds known collectively as humus. It generally accounts for some 60 to 80% of the total organic matter present, the balance consisting of recent organic debris of partially decomposed litter, dead roots, and the waste products of soil fauna. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s, the expansion of agriculture, the clearing of forests, and especially the burning of fossil fuels have led to a dramatic increase in the atmospheric content of D. Hillel ([email protected]) and C. Rosenzweig (crosenzweig@ Fig. 1. Carbon reserves and exchange in the land–ocean– giss.nasa.gov), Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY. atmosphere continuum. Both authors are ASA Fellows, and Dr. Hillel is also an SSSA, AGU, *Quantitative estimates regarding fossil fuels in ocean and AAAS Fellow. sediments vary widely. Carbon exchange in the terrestrial domain and the CARBON role of agriculture June 2009 V54 N06 CSA News 5 carbon in terrestrial biota and three times that in the at- be solubilized under acidic conditions and is subject to mosphere. leaching. The quantity of organic carbon in soils is spatially Soils with a high content of carbonaceous matter, NDUSTRY and temporally variable, depending on the balance of known as organic soils, typically form where prolonged I inputs versus outputs. The inputs are due to the ab- saturation with water results in a deficiency of oxygen, sorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the which in turn inhibits decomposition and promotes & process of photosynthesis and its incorporation into the the accumulation of incompletely decomposed organic H soil by the residues of plants and animals. The outputs matter, called peat. Such waterlogged areas are vari- C are due to the decomposition of soil organic matter, ously termed bogs, fens, swamps, marshes, or—more R which releases carbon dioxide under aerobic condi- generally—wetlands. These soils tend to emit carbon in A tions and methane under anaerobic conditions (both the form of CH4 (marsh gas), but at a rate much low- CO2 and CH4 being greenhouse gases). In certain condi- er than would be the emission rate of CO2 if the soil ESE tions, decomposition of organic matter may also cause were well aerated. When converted to agricultural use, R the release of nitrous oxide, which is another powerful such soils are generally drained, and the consequent greenhouse gas. aeration accelerates decomposition and spurs the emis- The content of organic carbon in soils in most cases sion of CO2. Cultivated peat soils may lose as much as constitutes less than 5% of the mass of soil material and 20 Mg C ha–1 yr–1 in tropical and subtropical climates is generally concentrated mainly in the upper 20 to 40 and roughly half that amount in temperate climates. cm (the so-called topsoil). However, that content varies They tend to shrink and subside unevenly and can even greatly, from less than 1% by mass in some arid-zone catch fire and burn uncontrollably. soils (Aridisols) to 50% or more in waterlogged organic Of special concern are the permafrost wetlands of soils such as Histosols (Table 1). In addition to their cold regions (termed Gelisols), which are abundant in content of organic carbon, some soils (mainly those of Siberia and parts of Canada and Alaska (Fig. 2). They arid and semiarid regions) also contain large reserves contain huge stocks of undecomposed organic mat- of inorganic carbon in the forms of calcium and magne- ter. As large areas of peat-rich permafrost are subject- sium carbonates. These carbon reserves are estimated ed to warming, they will tend to thaw out and, while to total some 695 to 748 Gt. Though not nearly so la- still saturated, emit methane. Later, when drained of bile as organic carbon, soil inorganic carbon tends to excess water and aerated, aerobic decomposition will take place, and the peat will release carbon dioxide. In a Table 1. Estimated mass of carbon in the world’s soils. warming climate, the enhanced emission of greenhouse SOUR C E : USDA. gases from thawing permafrost is an example of a posi- Soil orders Area Organic C tive feedback, by which the global warming due to an- thropogenic greenhouse gas emissions may cause the Gt 103 km2 secondary release of still more greenhouse gases from Alfisols 13,159 90.8 drained peatlands and thus further exacerbate global warming. Andisols 975 29.8 Apart from the peatlands of cold regions, about Aridisols 15,464 54.1 10% of global peatlands occur in the tropical lowlands and contain an estimated 70 Pg of carbon in deposits Entisols 23,432 232.0 Gelisols 11,869 237.5 Histosols 1,526 312.1 Inceptisols 19,854 323.6 Mollisols 9,161 120.0 Oxisols 9,811 99.1 Spodosols 4,596 67.1 Ultisols 10,550 98.1 Vertisols 3,160 18.3 Other soils 7,110 17.1 TOTALS 130,667 1,699.6 Fig. 2. Global distribution of principal soil orders. SOUR C E : USDA. 6 CSA News V54 N06 June 2009 R ESE as deep as 20 m. Tropical peatlands are abundant in in pastoral, agricultural, industrial, and urban areas such regions as Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, (Fig. 3). Cultivation spurs the microbial decomposition A Brunei, and Thailand) as well as in parts of the Ama- of soil organic matter while depriving it of replenish- R zon Basin. Some of these deposits appear to have been ment, especially if the cropping program involves re- C destabilized by agricultural drainage as well as by the moval of plant matter (leaving little organic residues in H occurrence of more intense droughts that seem to be the field) and if the soil is fallowed (kept bare) during & associated with El Niño periods. Such dry spells may considerable periods. Organic carbon is lost from soils result in the spontaneous burning of peat and vegeta- both by oxidation and by erosion of topsoil. Some cul- I tion that may cause the rapid emissions of great quanti- tivated soils may, over time, lose as much as one-third NDUSTRY ties of carbon dioxide. As more tropical swamp forests to two-thirds of their original organic matter content. and peatlands are drained and converted to agriculture, Consequently, these soils degrade in quality, as their they will likely contribute still greater emissions of CO2 fertility diminishes and their structure is destabilized. to the atmosphere, especially if El Niño events become Such soils are therefore important targets for mitigating more intense or frequent in a warming climate. the greenhouse effect by reducing and even reversing Histosols and Aridisols are two other groups of soils their tendency to emit greenhouse gases. likely to be strongly affected by climate change. Histo- Though agricultural soils acted in the past as signifi- sols are organic soils containing large concentrations cant sources of atmospheric CO2 enrichment, their pres- of peat. As they tend to dry out in a warmer and drier ent carbon deficits offer an opportunity to absorb sub- climate, enhanced oxidation could result in accelerated stantial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere and store oxidation and the release of large quantities of carbon it as added organic matter in the coming decades.
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