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Soil carbon sequestration: The potential of abandoned agricultural land in Eastern Canada

Soil carbon sequestration: The potential of abandoned agricultural land in Eastern Canada. Robyn Foote and Paul Grogan Greenhouse Gases Mitigation and Utilization , June 9th 2007. Agriculture. Forestry. Clearance & Agricultural Practices. Afforestation. Logging. Reforestation.

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Soil carbon sequestration: The potential of abandoned agricultural land in Eastern Canada

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  1. Soil carbon sequestration: The potential of abandoned agricultural land in Eastern Canada Robyn Foote and Paul Grogan Greenhouse Gases Mitigation and Utilization , June 9th 2007

  2. Agriculture Forestry Clearance & Agricultural Practices Afforestation Logging Reforestation Natural Regeneration Changing Management Practices Changing Management Practices Land-Use Change Natural Regeneration

  3. Carbon and land-use change • Land area that was settled initially is now considered unsuitable • 35% of agricultural land has been abandoned since 1950 in E. Canada Contributions since 1850

  4. Time Potential for carbon sequestration Soil carbon change = Inputs - Outputs Field Forest Soil C Soil C Soil C

  5. Soil C Soil C Time Questions! • What is the potential for carbon sequestration in shallow, marginal soils? • What is the potential for carbon sequestration in shallow, marginal soils? • What is the long-term pattern and how long does recovery take? Field Forest

  6. Mature forest Soil Carbon Over 100 0 Time since abandonment (yrs) Soil carbon over time • Rate of C accumulation slows over time • Initial soil C may influence rate of C accumulation • Few studies on temperate forest succession or at time scale of centuries

  7. Soil C Soil C Time Questions! • What is the potential for carbon sequestration in shallow, marginal soils? • What is the long-term pattern and how long does recovery take? • How does parent material the potential or rate of carbon sequestration? Parent Material Field Forest

  8. Soil C % Clay % Carbon loss Clay Sand Parent material • Silt and clay particles: • Physically and chemically protect organic matter • Higher water holding capacity How could soil texture influence carbon accumulation after agricultural abandonment? • Clay soils accumulate C more slowly • Clay soils accumulate C more quickly

  9. Labile C Labile C Labile C Recalcitrant C Forest Field Questions! • What is the potential for carbon sequestration in shallow, marginal soils? • How does parent material the potential or rate of carbon sequestration? • What is the long-term pattern and how long does recovery take? • Does carbon accumulate primarily in a labile or recalcitrant carbon pool?

  10. Geology and soil types of SE Ontario • Canadian Shield • Monteagle series - sandy loam • Limestone Plains • Farmington series - loam • Lansdowne series - clay

  11. Experimental design • 5 fields adjacent to mature forests per soil type • Chronosequence - series of sites that differ in time since agricultural abandonment • 12 to 15 chronosequence sites per soil type

  12.      Experimental design • Each site is a composite of 5 cores • All soils analyzed for total C and N (Questions 1-3) • Loam sites also sampled using 5 separate cores • Labile C using density fractionation (Question 4)

  13. Soil characteristics 0 to 5 cm • Sandy-loam and loam have similar texture near the surface

  14. Potential for carbon sequestration 0 to 10 cm • Soil C significantly lower in fields than forests between 0 to 10 cm (partial hierarchal ANOVA, p<0.0001) • Soil C is 30% lower in fields compared to mature forests Carbon content (kg/m2)

  15. Sandy-loam Loam Clay Carbon accumulation 0 to 5 cm Carbon content (kg/m2) Soil C accumulates at the same rate in all 3 soil types (ANCOVA, p>0.05)

  16. Carbon accumulation • Soil C tends to increase over time between 5 and 10 cm • No change in soil C over time between 10 and 20 cm • Average rate of 10 g C m-2 yr-1 to 10 cm in all soil types

  17. Mature Forest Carbon pools - Loam soil 0-10 cm Labile Carbon (kg/m2) • Most C is accumulating in the more recalcitrant pool

  18. Carbon sequestration • Total C sequestration = rate * area • C accumulates at 10 g C m-2 yr-1 • 3 million ha of farmland has been abandoned in ON since 1950 • Total C sequestered between 2008-2012: • 1.50 * 1012 g C OR • 2.7% of Ontario’s GHG emissions

  19. Conclusions • Significant potential for C sequestration in marginal soils • Total amount of C sequestered may be a small, but important contribution • Soil type did not influence the potential or rate of carbon sequestration • Recalcitrant pools account for majority of C sequestration

  20. Acknowledgements Paul Grogan and the Grogan lab Tim Phillpot Kate Buckeridge Queen’s University Biological Station Sonia Nobrega Landowners around Kingston Carolyn Churchland Erik Zufelt Brendan Daly Brian Reid Alison Fidler Linda Cameron Dragana Rakic Committee members Neal Scott Ed Gregorich

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