Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T03:16:01.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Using a Soil Chronosequence to Identify Soil Fractions for Understanding and Modeling Soil Carbon Dynamics in New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Christine A Prior ,
W Troy Baisden ,
Frank Bruhn  and
Jason C Neff
Christine A Prior*
Affiliation:
Rafter Radiocarbon Laboratory, National Isotope Centre, GNS Science, PO Box 31–312, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
W Troy Baisden
Affiliation:
National Isotope Centre, GNS Science, PO Box 31-312, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Frank Bruhn
Affiliation:
National Isotope Centre, GNS Science, PO Box 31-312, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Jason C Neff
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Campus Box 399, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
*
Corresponding author. Email: c.prior@gns.cri.nz
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We are developing practical methodologies to characterize pool sizes and residence times for fractions of soil organic matter (SOM) using radiocarbon, with a particular focus on SOM in New Zealand pasture soils that responds to global change on decadal timescales. As single mean residence times for the entire SOM pool can be misleading or uninterpretable, we focus on the use of samples collected about 7 and 40 yr after the bomb14C spike to separate SOM into at least 2 pools. These results from a box model methodology yield sensible estimates of the proportion of “passive” SOM, and the residence time of the dominant pool with approximately decadal residence times. These results are supported by chemical analysis. Approximately 45-yr residence times of light-fraction SOM in a relatively infertile soil contrast with ∼16-yr residence times in a more fertile soil, and correspond to large differences in the proportion of lignin- and polysaccharide-derived SOM in these soils measured using pyrolysis-GC/MS. To achieve greater detail and assess the degree to which “active” SOM with annual turnover rates may bias results from the simple model, we use density as a means of isolating SOM with different degrees of mineral association. Initial results from grazed pasture soils sampled in 2003–4 emphasize that isolating non-mineral-associated light fractions can improve understanding, but may be less important than identifying fractions associated with unique mineralogy. In this soil, a fraction with density ≥2.55 g/mL shows much larger proportions of passive SOM than other fractions.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 1093 - 1102
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Amundson, R. 2001. The carbon budget in soils. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 29:535–62.Google Scholar
Baisden, WT, Amundson, R, Cook, AC, Brenner, DL. 2002. Turnover and storage of C and N in five density fractions from California annual grassland surface soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 16(4):1117, doi:10.1029/2001/GB001822,2002.Google Scholar
Goh, KM, Rafter, TA, Stout, JD, Walker, TW. 1976. The accumulation of soil organic matter and its carbon isotope content in a chronosequence of soils developed on aeolian sand in New Zealand. European Journal of Soil Science 27(1):89–100.Google Scholar
Harden, JW, Mark, RK, Sundquist, ET, Stallard, RF. 1992. Dynamics of soil carbon during deglaciation of the Laurentide ice sheet. Science 258(5090):1921–4.Google Scholar
Jenkinson, DS, Andrew, SPS, Lynch, JM, Goss, MJ, Tinker, PB. 1990. The turnover of organic carbon and nitrogen in soil. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society London B 329(1255):361–8.Google Scholar
Jenny, H. 1941. The Factors of Soil Formation: A System of Quantitative Pedology. New York: McGraw-Hill. 281 p.Google Scholar
Jenny, H. 1980. The Soil Resource: Origin and Behavior. New York: Springer-Verlag. 377 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lassey, KR, Tate, KR, Sparks, RJ, Claydon, JJ. 1996. Historic measurements of radiocarbon in New Zealand soils. Radiocarbon 38(2):253–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manning, MR, Gomez, AJ, Pohl, KP. 1994. Atmospheric CO2 record from in situ measurements at Baring Head. In: Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA.Google Scholar
O'Brien, BJ, Stout, JD. 1978. Movement and turnover of soil organic matter as indicated by carbon isotope measurements. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 10(4):309–17.Google Scholar
Parton, WJ, Schimel, DS, Cole, CV, Ojima, DS. 1987. Analysis of factors controlling soil organic matter levels in Great Plains grasslands. Soil Science Society of America Journal 51(5):1173–9.Google Scholar
Percival, HJ, Parfitt, RL, Scott, NA. 2000. Factors controlling soil carbon levels in New Zealand grasslands: Is clay content important? Soil Science Society of America Journal 64(5):1623–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pouwels, AD, Eijkel, GB, Boon, JJ. 1989. Curie-point pyrolysis-capillary gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry of microcrystalline cellulose. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 14(4):237–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlesinger, WH. 1990. Evidence from chronosequence studies for a low carbon-storage potential of soils. Nature 348(6298):232–4.Google Scholar
Schulten, H-R, Schnitzer, M. 1997. The chemistry of soil organic nitrogen: a review. Biology and Fertility of Soils 26(1):1–15 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sollins, P, Swanston, C, Kleber, M, Filley, T, Kramer, M, Crow, S, Caldwell, BA, Lajtha, K, Bowden, R. 2006. Organic C and N stabilization in a forest soil: evidence from sequential density fractionation. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38(11):3313–24.Google Scholar
Syers, JK, Walker, TW. 1969. Phosphorous transformations in a chronosequence developed on wind-blown sand in New Zealand: I. Total and organic phosphorus. European Journal of Soil Science 20(1):57–64.Google Scholar
Syers, JK, Adams, JA, Walker, TW. 1970. Accumulation of organic matter in a chronosequence of soils developed on wind-blown sand in New Zealand. European Journal of Soil Science 21(1):146–53.Google Scholar
Tate, KR, Giltrap, DJ, Claydon, JJ, Newsome, PF, Atkinson, IAE, Taylor, MD, Lee, R. 1997. Organic carbon stocks in New Zealand's terrestrial ecosystems. Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand 27(3):315–35.Google Scholar
Trumbore, SE. 1993. Comparison of carbon dynamics in tropical and temperate soils using radiocarbon measurements. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7(2):275–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trumbore, SE, Chadwick, OA, Amundson, R. 1996. Rapid exchange between soil carbon and atmospheric carbon dioxide driven by temperature change. Science 272(5260):393–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar