Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10846124 | Soil Biology and Biochemistry | 2010 | 9 Pages |
Abstract
Total belowground C allocation (TBCA) accounts for a large fraction of gross primary production, it may overtake aboveground net primary production, and contributes to the primary source of detrital C in the mineral soil. Here, we measure soil respiration, water erosion, litterfall and estimate annual changes in C stored in mineral soil, litter and roots, in three representative land uses in a Mediterranean ecosystem (late-successional forest, abandoned agricultural field, rain-fed olive grove), and use two C balance approaches (steady-state and non-steady-state) to estimate TBCA. Both TBCA approaches are compared to assess how different C fluxes (outputs and inputs) affect our estimates of TBCA within each land use. In addition, annual net primary productivity is determined and C allocation patterns are examined for each land use. We hypothesized that changes in C stored in mineral soil, litter and roots will be slight compared to soil respiration, but will still have a significant effect on the estimates of TBCA. Annual net primary productivity was 648 ± 31.5, 541 ± 42.3 and 324 ± 22.3 g C mâ2 yrâ1 for forest, abandoned agricultural field and olive grove, respectively. Across land uses, more than 60% of the C was allocated belowground. Soil respiration (FS) was the largest component in the TBCA approaches across all land uses. Annual C losses through water erosion were negligible compared to FS (less than 1%) and had little effect on the estimates of TBCA. Annual changes in C stored in the soil, litter layer and roots were low compared to FS (16, 24 and 10% for forest, abandoned agricultural field and olive grove, respectively), but had a significant effect on the estimates of TBCA. In our sites, an assumption that Î[CS + CR + CL]/Ît = 0 will underestimate TBCA, particularly in the abandoned agricultural field, where soil C storage may be increasing more rapidly. Therefore, the steady-state model is unsuited to these Mediterranean ecosystems and the full model is recommended.
Keywords
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Soil Science
Authors
M. Almagro, J. López, C. Boix-Fayos, J. Albaladejo, M. MartÃnez-Mena,