Conservation of soil organic carbon, biodiversity and the provision of other ecosystem services along climatic gradients in West Africa

Abstract

Abstract. Terrestrial carbon resources are major drivers of development in West Africa.

Forest vegetation responses to climate and environmental change: A case study from Changbai Mountain, NE China

“…Accordingly, other environmental parameters such as nutrient availability become more important for the diversity of the herb layer. A strong link between herbaceous plant diversity and soil parameters associated with the availability of nutrients has indeed been reported in previous studies (Ramovs and Roberts, 2003;Chust et al, 2006;Marks et al, 2008). Nonetheless, it could also be argued that the observed patterns in herbaceous plant diversity represents a state of transition within these plant communities, with different herbaceous species adapting to changes in the climatic conditions at different rates, so that the influence of temperature and precipitation originally observed in the 1963 dataset becoming hidden as a result of the non-equilibrium state within this component of the forest vegetation (Watson, 1980;Shmida and Wilson, 1985;Keeley et al, 2005).…”

Carbon density and accumulation in woody species of tropical dry forest in India

“…It suggests that if above-ground vegetation carbon density can be increased through forest management, soil carbon storage will also increase. Degraded soils on restoration have the potential to provide terrestrial sinks of carbon and reduce the rate of enrichment of atmospheric CO 2 (Marks et al, 2008). Biomass governs the potential carbon emission that could be released to the atmosphere through deforestation.…”

Carbon management in dryland agricultural systems. A review

“…Although this response can be either positive or negative (Wilcox and Makowski 2014), in southern latitudes and semiarid areas, acceleration of maturation and/ or heat stress due to warming can have negative impacts on crop production (Lavalle et al 2009), thus offsetting the potential gain in SOC stocks expected under CO 2 enrichment. In some African countries, for example, crop yields could be reduced by 50 % by 2020 (Marks et al 2009). Limited information exists in the literature about the interactive effects of warming and CO 2 increases in C dynamics in agricultural systems.…”

“…will gain more attraction in the mid-and long-term perspective. Sustainable carbon sequestration policies must act locally at the scale of the small shareholder or village, and focus on the ecosystem services rather than on C sequestration solely (Marks et al 2009). …”

“…In spite of the limitations and negative perspectives for the future, soils in dryland areas have a great potential to sequester C if appropriate management and land use policies are applied (FAO 2004;Lal 2001;Marks et al 2009) within an ecological intensification framework (Figs 1 and 2). That framework advocates raising yields without negatively affecting the environment (Cassman 1999).…”