A review of organic carbon accumulation in soils within the agricultural context of southern New South Wales, Australia

Conyers, Mark; Liu, De Li; Kirkegaard, John A.; Orgill, Susan; Oates, Albert; Li, Guangdi; Poile, Graeme; Kirkby, Clive A.

doi:10.1016/j.fcr.2014.07.013

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…However, these effects seem to be climate‐dependent, with a maximum in soil C occurring after a wet preceding year and minimum after a dry preceding year (e.g. Conyers et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, other studies have reported an increase in soil OM concomitant with a decrease in soil pH; for instance, Gillman () indicated that for 1% increase in soil carbon, soil pH declines by 1 unit. Consequently, in the long‐term soil OM accumulation under RT might result in soil acidification especially in low pH buffering capacity soils (Conyers et al., ) and when high N fertilizers are used (Blevins et al., ). In relation to this, the results of our meta‐analyses also indicated that although there was a negative relationship between the earthworms' response ratio and soil pH, they responded significantly more positively to RT operations in the most acidic soils category (pH < 5.5).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta‐analysis

Briones

Schmidt

2017

Global Change Biology

267

166

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Article (refereed) -postprintBriones, María Jesús I.; Schmidt, Olaf. 2017. Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta-analysis. Global Change Biology, 23 (10). 4396-4419. 10.1111/gcb.13744 Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. Accepted ArticleThis article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Accepted ArticleThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. AbstractThe adoption of less intensive soil cultivation practices is expected to increase earthworm populations and their contributions to ecosystem functioning. However, conflicting results have been reported on the effects of tillage intensity on earthworm populations, attributed in narrative reviews to site-dependent differences in soil properties, climatic conditions, and agronomic operations (e.g., fertilization, residue management and chemical crop protection).We present a quantitative review based on a global meta-analysis, using paired observations from 215 studies performed over 65 years across 40 countries on five continents, to elucidate this long-standing unresolved issue. Results showed that disturbing the soil less (e.g., no-tillage and Conservation Agriculture) significantly increased earthworm abundance (mean increase of 137% and 127%, respectively) and biomass (196% and 101%, respectively) compared to when the soil is inverted by conventional ploughing. Earthworm population responses were more pronounced when the soil had been under reduced tillage for a long time (>10 years), in warm temperate zones with fine-textured soils, and in soils with higher clay contents (>35%) and low pH (<5.5). Furthermore, retaining organic harvest residues amplified this positive response to reduced tillage, whereas the use of the herbicide glyphosate did not significantly affect earthworm population responses to reduced tillage.Additional meta-analyses confirmed that epigeic and, more importantly, the bigger-sized anecic earthworms, were the most sensitive ecological groups to conventional tillage. In particular, the deep burrower Lumbricus terrestris exhibited the strongest positive response to reduced tillage, increasing in abundance by 124% more than the overall mean of all 13 species analysed individually. The restoration of these two important ecological groups of earthworms and their burrowing, feeding and casting activities under various forms of reduced tillage will ensure the provision of ecosystem functions such as soil structure maintenance and nutrient cycling by "nature's plough". Accepted ArticleThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Co...

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“…However, these effects seem to be climate‐dependent, with a maximum in soil C occurring after a wet preceding year and minimum after a dry preceding year (e.g. Conyers et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta‐analysis

Briones

Schmidt

2017

Global Change Biology

267

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In terms of site-specific land management, it is generally believed that conservation tillage management systems would lead to greater crop production and larger quantities of biomass and root exudates entering the carbon cycle (Chan, Cowie, Kelly, Bhupinderpal Singh, & Slavich, 2008); however, the results from this study do not follow this hypothesis. It is possible that SOC % measured at 0-30 cm may be too coarse a profile resolution to measure impact of management over a short time period whereas studies reporting SOC % at finer profile resolution (Chan et al, 2010(Chan et al, , 2011Conyers et al, 2015;Luo et al, 2010) have reported significant changes with soil management. Another reason may be that there is an increase in carbon entering the system from conservation tillage management, but the influx of carbon, in conjunction with the improvements in soil structure and moisture regimes, provides a priming effect that increases microbial activity and raises the mineralization of SOC.…”

Section: Soc Change (Delta Soc)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil carbon change across ten New South Wales farms under different farm management regimes in Australia

Singh

Whelan

2020

Soil Use and Management

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Land use change (LUC) and management practices (MP) that disturb soil structure are often responsible for this decline. LUC and associated MP that may be applied to agricultural land include cropping, pasture and forestry (Lesslie, Michele, & Smith, 2006). These activities are also known to contribute towards soil carbon variability. Farmers, policy makers and researchers need accurate contemporary baseline estimates of the status and change of soil carbon to make LUC and MP decisions and to implement soil carbon budgeting schemes at the paddock (Singh,

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“…It is also possible that changes in climate could reduce the efficacy of strategies to mitigate emissions. For example, in some cases the ability to increase and/or maintain carbon already sequestered in agricultural soils may decline under projected changes to climate (Grace et al ; Hoyle et al ; Liu et al ; Conyers et al ). This means that the performance of policies that encourage sequestration, such as Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund – a policy in which landholders can undertake sequestering re‐afforestation in return for marketable ‘carbon credits’ (Australian Government ) – may be compromised by climate change itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change reduces the mitigation obtainable from sequestration in an Australian farming system

Thamo

Addai

Kragt

et al. 2019

Aus J Agri & Res Econ

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Agricultural research on climate change generally follows two themes: (i) impact and adaptation or (ii) mitigation and emissions. Despite both being simultaneously relevant to future agricultural systems, the two are usually studied separately. By contrast, this study jointly compares the potential impacts of climate change and the effects of mitigation policy on farming systems in the central region of Western Australia's grainbelt, using the results of several biophysical models integrated into a whole-farm bioeconomic model. In particular, we focus on the potential for interactions between climate impacts and mitigation activities. Results suggest that, in the study area, farm profitability is much more sensitive to changes in climate than to a mitigation policy involving a carbon price on agricultural emissions. Climate change reduces the profitability of agricultural production and, as a result, reduces the opportunity cost of reforesting land for carbon sequestration. Nonetheless, the financial attractiveness of reforestation does not necessarily improve because climate change also reduces tree growth and, therefore, the income from sequestration. Consequently, at least for the study area, climate change has the potential to reduce the amount of abatement obtainable from sequestrationa result potentially relevant to the debate about the desirability of sequestration as a mitigation option. * We thank Jenny Carter for her assistance with the 3PG modelling and Brett Bryan for his feedback on drafts of this manuscript.

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A review of organic carbon accumulation in soils within the agricultural context of southern New South Wales, Australia

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta‐analysis

Conventional tillage decreases the abundance and biomass of earthworms and alters their community structure in a global meta‐analysis

Soil carbon change across ten New South Wales farms under different farm management regimes in Australia

Climate change reduces the mitigation obtainable from sequestration in an Australian farming system

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