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Title: The climate change mitigation potential of annual grasslands under future climates

Abstract

Abstract Composted manure and green waste amendments have been shown to increase net carbon (C) sequestration in rangeland soils and have been proposed as a means to help lower atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. However, the effect of climate change on soil organic C (SOC) stocks and greenhouse gas emissions in rangelands is not well understood, and the viability of climate change mitigation strategies under future conditions is even less certain. We used a process‐based biogeochemical model (DayCent) at a daily time step to explore the long‐term effects of potential future climate changes on C and greenhouse gas dynamics in annual grassland ecosystems. We then used the model to explore how the same ecosystems might respond to climate change following compost amendments to soils and determined the long‐term viability of net SOC sequestration under changing climates. We simulated net primary productivity (NPP), SOC, and greenhouse gas fluxes across seven California annual grasslands with and without compost amendments. We drove the DayCent simulations with field data and with site‐specific daily climate data from two Earth system models (CanESM2 and HadGEM‐ES) and two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) through 2100. NPP and SOC stocks in unamended and amended ecosystems were surprisingly insensitivemore » to projected climate changes. A one‐time amendment of compost to rangeland acted as a slow‐release organic fertilizer and increased NPP by up to 390–814 kg C ha −1  year −1 across sites. The amendment effect on NPP was not sensitive to Earth system model or emissions scenario and endured through the end of the century. Net SOC sequestration amounted to 1.96 ± 0.02 Mg C ha −1 relative to unamended soils at the maximum amendment effect. Averaged across sites and scenarios, SOC sequestration peaked 22 ± 1 years after amendment and declined but remained positive throughout the century. Though compost stimulated nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions, the cumulative net emissions (in CO 2 equivalents) due to compost were far less than the amount of SOC sequestered. Compost amendments resulted in a net climate benefit of 69.6 ± 0.5 Tg CO 2 e 20 ± 1 years after amendment if applied to similar ecosystems across the state, amounting to 39% of California's rangeland. These results suggest that the biogeochemical benefits of a single amendment of compost to rangelands in California are insensitive to climate change and could contribute to decadal‐scale climate change mitigation goals alongside emissions reductions.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley California USA, Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Lawrence Livermore National Lab Livermore California USA
  2. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley California USA
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1996297
Resource Type:
Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Ecological Applications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Ecological Applications Journal Volume: 32 Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1051-0761
Publisher:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Mayer, Allegra, and Silver, Whendee L. The climate change mitigation potential of annual grasslands under future climates. United States: N. p., 2022. Web. doi:10.1002/eap.2705.
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Mayer, Allegra, & Silver, Whendee L. The climate change mitigation potential of annual grasslands under future climates. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2705
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Mayer, Allegra, and Silver, Whendee L. Fri . "The climate change mitigation potential of annual grasslands under future climates". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2705.
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@article{osti_1996297,
title = {The climate change mitigation potential of annual grasslands under future climates},
author = {Mayer, Allegra and Silver, Whendee L.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Composted manure and green waste amendments have been shown to increase net carbon (C) sequestration in rangeland soils and have been proposed as a means to help lower atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. However, the effect of climate change on soil organic C (SOC) stocks and greenhouse gas emissions in rangelands is not well understood, and the viability of climate change mitigation strategies under future conditions is even less certain. We used a process‐based biogeochemical model (DayCent) at a daily time step to explore the long‐term effects of potential future climate changes on C and greenhouse gas dynamics in annual grassland ecosystems. We then used the model to explore how the same ecosystems might respond to climate change following compost amendments to soils and determined the long‐term viability of net SOC sequestration under changing climates. We simulated net primary productivity (NPP), SOC, and greenhouse gas fluxes across seven California annual grasslands with and without compost amendments. We drove the DayCent simulations with field data and with site‐specific daily climate data from two Earth system models (CanESM2 and HadGEM‐ES) and two representative concentration pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) through 2100. NPP and SOC stocks in unamended and amended ecosystems were surprisingly insensitive to projected climate changes. A one‐time amendment of compost to rangeland acted as a slow‐release organic fertilizer and increased NPP by up to 390–814 kg C ha −1  year −1 across sites. The amendment effect on NPP was not sensitive to Earth system model or emissions scenario and endured through the end of the century. Net SOC sequestration amounted to 1.96 ± 0.02 Mg C ha −1 relative to unamended soils at the maximum amendment effect. Averaged across sites and scenarios, SOC sequestration peaked 22 ± 1 years after amendment and declined but remained positive throughout the century. Though compost stimulated nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emissions, the cumulative net emissions (in CO 2 equivalents) due to compost were far less than the amount of SOC sequestered. Compost amendments resulted in a net climate benefit of 69.6 ± 0.5 Tg CO 2 e 20 ± 1 years after amendment if applied to similar ecosystems across the state, amounting to 39% of California's rangeland. These results suggest that the biogeochemical benefits of a single amendment of compost to rangelands in California are insensitive to climate change and could contribute to decadal‐scale climate change mitigation goals alongside emissions reductions.},
doi = {10.1002/eap.2705},
journal = {Ecological Applications},
number = 8,
volume = 32,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2022},
month = {Fri Aug 12 00:00:00 EDT 2022}
}
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