The landscape of soil carbon data: Emerging questions, synergies and databases
Abstract
Soil carbon has been measured for over a century in applications ranging from understanding biogeochemical processes in natural ecosystems to quantifying the productivity and health of managed systems. Consolidating diverse soil carbon datasets is increasingly important to maximize their value, particularly with growing anthropogenic and climate change pressures. In this progress discussion, we describe recent advances in soil carbon data led by the International Soil Carbon Network and other networks. We highlight priority areas of research requiring soil carbon data, including (a) quantifying boreal, arctic and wetland carbon stocks, (b) understanding the timescales of soil carbon persistence using radiocarbon and chronosequence studies, (c) synthesizing long-term and experimental data to inform carbon stock vulnerability to global change, (d) quantifying root influences on soil carbon and (e) identifying gaps in model–data integration. Furthermore, we describe the landscape of soil datasets currently available, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses and synergies. Now more than ever, integrated soil data are needed to inform climate mitigation, land management and agricultural practices. This report will aid new data users in navigating various soil databases and encourage scientists to make their measurements publicly available and to join forces to find soil-related solutions.
- Authors:
-
[1];
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Wilfrid Laurier Univ., Waterloo, ON (Canada)
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- ISRIC – World Soil Information, Wageningen (Netherlands)
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD (United States)
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Germany) ; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
- U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, CO (United States)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)
- Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1564214
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Progress in Physical Geography
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 43; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 0309-1333
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Soil carbon data; soil database; wetland carbon; soil chronosequence; soil radiocarbon; long-term ecological research; root traits; soil carbon stabilization; model–data integration
Citation Formats
Malhotra, Avni, Todd-Brown, Katherine, Nave, Lucas E., Batjes, Niels H., Holmquist, James R., Hoyt, Alison M., Iversen, Colleen M., Jackson, Robert B., Lajtha, Kate, Lawrence, Corey, Vindušková, Olga, Wieder, William, Williams, Mathew, Hugelius, Gustaf, and Harden, Jennifer. The landscape of soil carbon data: Emerging questions, synergies and databases. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1177/0309133319873309.
Malhotra, Avni, Todd-Brown, Katherine, Nave, Lucas E., Batjes, Niels H., Holmquist, James R., Hoyt, Alison M., Iversen, Colleen M., Jackson, Robert B., Lajtha, Kate, Lawrence, Corey, Vindušková, Olga, Wieder, William, Williams, Mathew, Hugelius, Gustaf, & Harden, Jennifer. The landscape of soil carbon data: Emerging questions, synergies and databases. United States. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319873309
Malhotra, Avni, Todd-Brown, Katherine, Nave, Lucas E., Batjes, Niels H., Holmquist, James R., Hoyt, Alison M., Iversen, Colleen M., Jackson, Robert B., Lajtha, Kate, Lawrence, Corey, Vindušková, Olga, Wieder, William, Williams, Mathew, Hugelius, Gustaf, and Harden, Jennifer. Sun .
"The landscape of soil carbon data: Emerging questions, synergies and databases". United States. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133319873309. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1564214.
@article{osti_1564214,
title = {The landscape of soil carbon data: Emerging questions, synergies and databases},
author = {Malhotra, Avni and Todd-Brown, Katherine and Nave, Lucas E. and Batjes, Niels H. and Holmquist, James R. and Hoyt, Alison M. and Iversen, Colleen M. and Jackson, Robert B. and Lajtha, Kate and Lawrence, Corey and Vindušková, Olga and Wieder, William and Williams, Mathew and Hugelius, Gustaf and Harden, Jennifer},
abstractNote = {Soil carbon has been measured for over a century in applications ranging from understanding biogeochemical processes in natural ecosystems to quantifying the productivity and health of managed systems. Consolidating diverse soil carbon datasets is increasingly important to maximize their value, particularly with growing anthropogenic and climate change pressures. In this progress discussion, we describe recent advances in soil carbon data led by the International Soil Carbon Network and other networks. We highlight priority areas of research requiring soil carbon data, including (a) quantifying boreal, arctic and wetland carbon stocks, (b) understanding the timescales of soil carbon persistence using radiocarbon and chronosequence studies, (c) synthesizing long-term and experimental data to inform carbon stock vulnerability to global change, (d) quantifying root influences on soil carbon and (e) identifying gaps in model–data integration. Furthermore, we describe the landscape of soil datasets currently available, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses and synergies. Now more than ever, integrated soil data are needed to inform climate mitigation, land management and agricultural practices. This report will aid new data users in navigating various soil databases and encourage scientists to make their measurements publicly available and to join forces to find soil-related solutions.},
doi = {10.1177/0309133319873309},
journal = {Progress in Physical Geography},
number = 5,
volume = 43,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {9}
}
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