ABSTRACT:
The exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere, biosphere and pedosphere is an important consideration when assessing agricultural and environmental management or policy decisions and their relationship to climate change. Field experimentation is the best way to gather data, but experimental data are specific to the management, soils and climate that represent the research site. Inadequate field data exist to address all management options across all soil types and climates. We have used the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change inventory approach to estimate changes in soil carbon storage resulting from various land use and management options. We generate a regional assessment of the relative impact of implementing changes in agricultural management on soil carbon storage. For each agricultural region of the United States, we present an estimated annual change in soil carbon storage for each management option. Results should prove especially useful in evaluating management options and tradeoffs.
Footnotes
Marlen D. Eve is a research associate at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Mark Sperow, Kristen Howerton and Keith Paustian are also with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory. Ronald F. Follett works, in the Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agricltute's Agricultural Research Service, also in Fort Collins.
- Copyright 2002 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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