Journal
SOIL BIOLOGY & BIOCHEMISTRY
Volume 123, Issue -, Pages 145-154Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.05.005
Keywords
C sequestration; SOC dynamics; Soil structure; Subsoil; Climate change; Carbon cycle
Categories
Funding
- Hessian Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology (HLNUG)
- Hessian State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Facing rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, subsoils may play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle due to the presence of unsaturated mineral surfaces. Further, macroaggregation is considered a crucial process influencing C sequestration. However, analyses on subsoil aggregation and C retention processes under long-term elevated CO2 (eCO(2)) are lacking. In this study we investigated the long-term effect of + 20% above ambient CO2 concentration (corresponds to conditions reached 2035-2045) in a temperate grassland ecosystem at the Giessen Free Air CO2 Enrichment (Gi-FACE), Germany. A depth-dependent response of macroaggregation to eCO(2) was observed: While in subsoil (15-45 cm depth) macroaggregation increased under eCO(2), no CO2 induced change in macroaggregation was detected in topsoil (0-15 cm). Increased macroaggregation in subsoil coincided with higher SOC content of large macroaggregates (LM). Mean residence time (MRT) of SOC in aggregate-size classes were not different among each other under eCO(2). However, macroaggregates and bulk soil differed in their MRT between soil depths. Despite increased macroaggregation and an estimated high SOC sequestration potential in subsoil we could not observe an increase in SOC content of bulk soil.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available