The world's soils store more carbon than is present in biomass and in the atmosphere. New experimental evidence suggests that the delivery of fresh plant-derived carbon to the subsoil stimulates microbial activity and results in mineralization of thousand-year-old carbon. This supports the recent proposal that the conservation of organic carbon at depth results from a lack of energy for decomposers. This large pool of deep carbon is unlikely to respond to future changes in temperature if no fresh carbon is supplied, limiting the predicted positive feedback between global warming and soil organic carbon decomposition. The results imply that management practices that increase the distribution of fresh carbon along the soil profile (such as deep ploughing and the use of drought-resistant crops with extensive root systems) will stimulate loss of this ancient buried carbon. It is shown that the supply of fresh plant-derived carbon to deep soil layers stimulated the microbial mineralization of carbon that is thousands of years old, and is suggested that a lack of supply of fresh-carbon may prevent the decomposition of the organic carbon pool in deep soil layers in response to future changes in temperature. The world’s soils store more carbon than is present in biomass and in the atmosphere1. Little is known, however, about the factors controlling the stability of soil organic carbon stocks2,3,4 and the response of the soil carbon pool to climate change remains uncertain5,6. We investigated the stability of carbon in deep soil layers in one soil profile by combining physical and chemical characterization of organic carbon, soil incubations and radiocarbon dating. Here we show that the supply of fresh plant-derived carbon to the subsoil (0.6–0.8 m depth) stimulated the microbial mineralization of 2,567 ± 226-year-old carbon. Our results support the previously suggested idea7 that in the absence of fresh organic carbon, an essential source of energy for soil microbes, the stability of organic carbon in deep soil layers is maintained. We propose that a lack of supply of fresh carbon may prevent the decomposition of the organic carbon pool in deep soil layers in response to future changes in temperature. Any change in land use and agricultural practice that increases the distribution of fresh carbon along the soil profile1,8,9 could however stimulate the loss of ancient buried carbon.

Stability of organic carbon in deep soil layers controlled by fresh carbon supply

A comparison of the performance of nine soil organic matter models using datasets from seven long-term experiments

Change in soil carbon following afforestation

Tillage has been reported to reduce organic matter concentrations and increase organic matter turnover rates to a variable extent. The change of soil climate and the incorporation of aboveground C inputs within the soil lead to no unique effect on biodegradation rates, because of their strong interaction with the regional climate and the soil physical properties. The periodical perturbation of soil structure by tools and the subsequent drying‐rewetting cycles may be the major factor increasing organic matter decomposition rates by exposing the organic matter that is physically protected in microaggregates to biodegradation. This paper reviews the assessed effects of tillage on organic matter, the scale, extent and mechanisms of physical protection of organic matter in soils. # 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

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Relationship of soil organic matter dynamics to physical protection and tillage

Radiocarbon data from soil organic matter and soil respiration provide pow- erful constraints for determining carbon dynamics and thereby the magnitude and timing of soil carbon response to global change. In this paper, data from three sites representing well-drained soils in boreal, temperate, and tropical forests are used to illustrate the methods for using radiocarbon to determine the turnover times of soil organic matter and to partition soil respiration. For these sites, the average age of bulk carbon in detrital and Oh/A-horizon organic carbon ranges from 200 to 1200 yr. In each case, this mass-weighted average includes components such as relatively undecomposed leaf, root, and moss litter with much shorter turnover times, and humified or mineral-associated organic matter with much longer turnover times. The average age of carbon in organic matter is greater than the average age predicted for CO2 produced by its decomposition (30, 8, and 3 yr for boreal, temperate, and tropical soil), or measured in total soil respiration (16, 3, and 1 yr). Most of the CO 2 produced during decomposition is derived from relatively short-lived soil organic matter (SOM) components that do not represent a large component of the standing stock of soil organic matter. Estimates of soil carbon turnover obtained by dividing C stocks by hetero- trophic respiration fluxes, or from radiocarbon measurements of bulk SOM, are biased to longer time scales of C cycling. Failure to account for the heterogeneity of soil organic matter will result in underestimation of the short-term response and overestimation of the long-term response of soil C storage to future changes in inputs or decomposition. Comparison of the 14 C in soil respiration with soil organic matter in temperate and boreal forest sites indicates a significant contribution from decomposition of organic matter fixed.2 yr but ,30 yr ago. Tropical soil respiration is dominated by C fixed ,1 yr ago. Monitoring the 14 C signature of CO2 emitted from soils give clues as to the causes of

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Age of soil organic matter and soil respiration: radiocarbon constraints on belowground c dynamics

Soil samples collected from four of the Rothamsted long-term field experiments over the last 100 yr were used to follow the effects of management on soil organic matter content. The experimental sites were:Broadbalk and Geescroft Wildernesses, both on old arable land that had been fenced off in the early 1880s and allowed to revert naturally to deciduous woodland; the unmanured plot in the Rothamsted Park Grass Continuous Hay Experiment, started in 1856; the unmanured and one of the NPK plots in the Broadbalk Continuous Wheat Experiment started in 1843. Total C, radiocarbon and (in some cases) soil microbial biomass C were measured in stored and contemporary soil samples.

The current Rothamsted model for the turnover of organic C in soil was then used to calculate how the organic C content of the topsoils from the four sites would change with time for a range of annual inputs. The inputs that generated the best fit to the measured values were: Broadbalk Wilderness 3.5 t C ha−1 yr−1; Geescroft Wilderness 2.5 t C ha−1 yr−1;unmanured plot on Park Grass 3.01 t C ha−1 yr−1; unmanured plot on Broadbalk Wheat 1.3 t C ha−1 yr−1; NPK plot on Broadbalk Wheat 1.71 t C ha−1 yr−1. The model also generated the radiocarbon content of soil organic C for these inputs of C, knowing the 14C content of the atmosphere over the period 1840–1985. The marked increase in the 14C content of soil organic C brought about by thermonuclear testing during the 1960's was accurately represented by the model. The quantities of soil microbial biomass (measured by fumigation-incubation) in the top 23 cm of soil from the four sites were: Broadbalk Wilderness,1.571 t C ha−1; Geescroft Wilderness, 0.58 t C ha−1; unmanured plot on Park Grass,1.621C ha−1; unmanured plot on Broadbalk Wheat, 0.47 t C ha−1; NPK plot on Broadbalk Wheat, 0.76 t C−1.The values for soil microbial biomass C generated by the model for the above annual inputs agreed closely (with one exception) with the measured values.

For a site under steady-state conditions, the annual input of organic matter to the soil plus the annual removal of organic matter from the site (if any) gives the Net Primary Production (NPP). NPP thus calculated was 4.0 t C ha−1 yr−1 for the unmanured plot on Park Grass, 2.2 for the unmanured plot on Broadbalk and 5.2 for the NPK plot on Broadbalk. The two Wilderness sites are still accumulating C in both soil and vegetation and here NPP is given by annual input to the soil, plus the annual increment of C in the trees. NPP calculated in this way was 4.8 t C ha−1 yr−1 for Broadbalk Wilderness and 3.3 for Geescroft Wilderness.

This new way of estimating NPP, from measurements made on soil organic matter, needs to be tested on a wider range of soils, climates and vegetation types before it can be generally recommended. However, it has many potential advantages, not least that it can give a value for NPP that is integrated over many years from a single sampling. For sites under steady-state conditions it is not essential to have stored soil samples—the necessary measurements can be made on contemporary samples alone.

D.E. Adams

Papers

Calculating net primary production and annual input of organic matter to soil from the amount and radiocarbon content of soil organic matter