NDLI: Soil organic carbon content at a range of north Australian tropical savannas with contrasting site histories

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Chen, Xiaoyong Hutley, Lindsay B. Eamus, Derek
Copyright Year	2005
Abstract	Soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle, and can be major source or sink of CO$_{2}$ depending upon land use, vegetation type and soil management practices. Natural and human impact on soil carbon concentration and storage is poorly understood in native north Australian savanna, yet this represents the largest carbon store in the ecosystem. To gain understanding of possible management impacts on this carbon pool, soil organic carbon (SOC) of the top 1m of red earth sands and sandy loams common in the region was sampled at 5 sites with different vegetation cover and site history (fire regime and tree removal). SOC was high when compared to other published values for savannas and was more comparable with dry-deciduous tropical forests. Sites sampled in this study represent high rainfall savannas of northern Australia (> 1700 mm annual rainfall) that feature frequent burning (2 in 3 years or more frequent) and a cycle of annual re-growth of tall C$_{4}$ grasses that dominate the savanna understorey. These factors may be responsible for the higher than expected SOC levels of the surface soils, despite high respiration rates. Medium term fire exclusion (15–20 years) at one of the sampled sites (Wildlife Park) dramatically reduced the grassy biomass of the understorey. This site had lower SOC levels when compared to the grass dominated and frequently burnt sites, which may be due to a reduction in detrital input to surface (0–30 cm) soil carbon pools. Exclusion of trees also had a significant impact on both the total amount and distribution of soil organic carbon, with tree removal reducing observed SOC at depth (100 cm). Soil carbon content was higher in the wet season than that in the dry season, but this difference was not statistically significant. Our results indicated that annual cycle of grass growth and wildfire resulted in small carbon accumulation in the upper region of the soil, and removal of woody plants resulted in significant carbon losses to recalcitrant, deep soil horizons greater than 80 cm depth.
Starting Page	161
Ending Page	171
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	0032079X
Journal	Plant and Soil
Volume Number	268
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15735036
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers
Publisher Date	2005-01-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Australia carbon cycling fire savannas tree clearing wet-dry tropics Ecology Plant Sciences Plant Physiology Soil Science & Conservation
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Soil Science Plant Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Soil organic carbon content at a range of north Australian tropical savannas with contrasting site histories

Monitoring plant physiological characteristics to evaluate mine site revegetation: A case study from the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia

Optimal Fire Regimes for Soil Carbon Storage in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

Can savannas become forests? A coupled analysis of nutrient stocks and fire thresholds in central Brazil

Carbon balance of a tropical savanna of northern Australia

Leaf litter manipulations alter soil physicochemical properties and tree growth in a Neotropical savanna

Wet-dry cycling extends seed persistence by re-instating antioxidant capacity

Effect of woody vegetation clearing on nutrient and carbon relations of semi-arid dystrophic savanna

Soil organic C and total N pools in the Kalahari: potential impacts of climate change on C sequestration in savannas

Soil organic carbon content at a range of north Australian tropical savannas with contrasting site histories

Similar Documents

Soil organic carbon content at a range of north Australian tropical savannas with contrasting site histories

Monitoring plant physiological characteristics to evaluate mine site revegetation: A case study from the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia

Optimal Fire Regimes for Soil Carbon Storage in Tropical Savannas of Northern Australia

Can savannas become forests? A coupled analysis of nutrient stocks and fire thresholds in central Brazil

Carbon balance of a tropical savanna of northern Australia

Leaf litter manipulations alter soil physicochemical properties and tree growth in a Neotropical savanna

Wet-dry cycling extends seed persistence by re-instating antioxidant capacity

Effect of woody vegetation clearing on nutrient and carbon relations of semi-arid dystrophic savanna

Soil organic C and total N pools in the Kalahari: potential impacts of climate change on C sequestration in savannas

Soil organic carbon content at a range of north Australian tropical savannas with contrasting site histories