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Title: A Continental-Scale Estimate of Soil Organic Carbon Change at NEON Sites and Their Environmental and Edaphic Controls

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences

Current carbon cycle models focus on the effects of climate and land-use change on primary productivity and microbial-mineral dependent carbon turnover in the topsoil, while less attention has been paid to vertical soil processes and soil-dependent response to land-use change along the profile. In this study, a spatial-temporal analysis was used to estimate soil organic carbon (SOC) change in topsoil/A horizon and subsoil/B horizon at National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) sites, USA over 30 years. To separate the effects of land-use, environmental, and edaphic factors on SOC change, space-for-time substitution was used in combination with the Continuous Change Detection and Classification algorithm and Structural Equation Modeling. Results showed that (a) under natural vegetation, Spodosols and Inceptisols found in the eastern NEON sites had substantial topsoil SOC accumulation (+0.4 to +1.2 Mg C ha–1 year–1), while Inceptisols and Andisols in the west had a comparable magnitude of topsoil SOC loss (–0.5 to –1.8 Mg C ha–1 year–1); (b) Mollisols and Alfisols in the Central Plains sites were susceptible to significant SOC loss under farming and grazing; (c) Runoff/erosion and leaching potential, vertical translocation, and mineral sorption were the most important factors controlling SOC variation across the NEON sites. Our work could be used to parameterize ecosystem models simulating SOC change.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2222637
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Biogeosciences Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 128; ISSN 2169-8953
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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