Soils represent a large carbon pool, approximately 1500 Gt, equivalent to almost three times the quantity stored in terrestrial biomass and twice the amount stored in the atmosphere. Any modifi cation of land-use or land management can induce variations in soil carbon stocks, even in agricultural systems that are perceived to be in a steady state. Th ese modifi cations also alter soil macrofaun...

Terrestrial ecosystems consist of mutually dependent producer and decomposer subsystems, but not much is known on how their interactions are modified by plant diversity and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Factorially manipulating grassland plant species diversity and atmospheric CO2 concentrations for five years, we tested whether high diversity or elevated CO2 sustain larger or more a...

Radiocarbon data from soil organic matter and soil respiration provide powerful 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...

1. Introduction Increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and other greenhouse gases is a global concern. Agricultural activities contribute to CO 2 and N 2 O emissions through combustion of fossil fuels, soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition, and biomass burning. Although green plants convert CO 2 into carbohydrates and biomass, most of the CO 2 that green plants absorb reenters the atmo...

When agricultural land is no longer used for cultivation and allowed to revert to natural vegetation or replanted to perennial vegetation, soil organic carbon can accumulate by processes that essentially reverse some of the effects responsible for soil organic carbon losses from when the land was converted from perennial vegetation. We discuss the essential elements of what is known about soil ...

We examined the effect of chronic soil warming on microbial biomass, functional capacity, and community structure in soil samples collected from the Soil Warming Study located at the Harvard Forest Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site. Twelve years of chronic soil warming at 5 C above the ambient temperature resulted in a significant reduction in microbial biomass and the utilization of a ...

Drought reduces the carbon (C) assimilation of trees and decouples aboveground from belowground carbon fluxes, but little is known about the response of drought-stressed trees to rewetting. This study aims to assess dynamics and patterns of C allocation in beech saplings under dry and rewetted soil conditions. In October 2010, 5-year-old beech saplings from a forest site were transplanted into ...

Increased nitrogen (N) deposition is common worldwide. Questions of where, how, and if reactive N-input influences soil carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems are of great concern. To explore the potential for soil C sequestration in steppe region under N and phosphorus (P) addition, we conducted a field experiment between 2006 and 2012 in the temperate grasslands of northern China....

To explore soil organic carbon (SOC) accumulation mechanisms, the dynamics of C functional groups and macroaggregation were studied synchronously through aggregate fractionation and (13)C NMR spectroscopy in sandy loam soil following an 18-year application of compost and fertilizer in China. Compared with no fertilizer control, both compost and fertilizer improved SOC content, while the applica...

The natural abundance of 13C was used to estimate the turnover of the soil organic matter in a vertisol re-grassed with Digitaria decumbens (C4 plant) following intensive market gardening (C3 plants). In addition, the experimental design allowed us to determine the respective roles of roots and earthworms (Polypheretima elongata) in soil C stock restoration in D. decumbens pasture. The C stock ...