Large Mammalian Herbivores and the Paradox of Soil Carbon in Grazing Ecosystems: Role of Microbial Decomposers and Their Enzymes

Roy, Shamik; Bagchi, Sumanta

doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00696-8

Cited by 21 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…And, at comparable abundances, both assemblages gain soil-C (Fig. 2) at approximately 1‰ to reiterate the role for grazing ecosystems in nature-based climate solutions (Smith 2014, Cromsigt et al 2018, Willemen et al 2020, Naidu and Bagchi 2021, Roy and Bagchi 2021. But livestock do not emerge as perfect substitutes since they achieve only about three-fourths of the soil-C stock, compared to the native herbivores (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…We incorporated SEM paths as mixed-effects models for each variable as piece-wise structural equations (Lefcheck 2016). We assessed goodness of fit with Fisher’s C statistic (Roy and Bagchi 2021; Shipley 2009) and report standardised path coefficients alongside their statistical significance (α=0.05). When SEM paths are supported by data, then they offer a plausible explanation for the underlying process.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further displacement of native herbivores seems inevitable due to steadily rising demands for livestock-products to accommodate evolving human-diets (Thornton 2010; Leclère et al 2020). This severely restricts and alters the erstwhile functional influence of native herbivores on ecosystem structure and functions, their broad influence on global biogeochemical cycles, and their influence on soil-C in particular (Brodie, Williams, and Garner 2021; Roy and Bagchi 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Soil-C sequestration in the Trans-Himalaya is particularly important under human land-use for livestock production and under ongoing climate change (Naidu and Bagchi 2021; Murthy and Bagchi 2018). We investigate long-term (decadal-scale) net soil-C sequestration under livestock and native herbivores, and their influence on key microbial decomposer functions related to the C-cycle (Falkowski, Fenchel, and Delong 2008; Roy and Bagchi 2021; Sinsabaugh et al 2016). We take advantage of several key features in the Trans-Himalaya: (1) the livestock are a multi-species assemblage that show considerable trait-overlap with the native herbivores (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Functional substitutability of native herbivores by livestock for soil carbon depends on microbial decomposers

Roy¹,

Bagchi²

2022

Preprint

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The functional influence of native mammalian herbivores on ecosystem functions is declining as they get gradually replaced by domestic livestock who have become the predominant herbivores across the world. Alongside rewilding, restoration, and conservation, it is now important to address whether livestock can maintain erstwhile functions of the native herbivores they have displaced across the world's grasslands, savannas, and steppes. If yes, this has implications for the future of biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, food-security, and other social and environmental dimensions. We test competing alternative hypotheses with a replicated, long-term, landscape-level experiment to ask whether livestock in the Trans-Himalayan ecosystem can match decadal-scale soil-C sequestration in soils under native herbivores. Over decadal time-scale (2006-16) livestock were imperfect substitutes since they could only attain three-fourths of the total soil-C stocks under native herbivores. Structural equation models supported the hypotheses that livestock alter soil microbial communities towards lower fungal abundance, which is detrimental for microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) and for soil-C storage. This lag between livestock and native herbivores can be addressed through microbial restoration and rewilding of soil. Therefore, the idea of functional substitutability must be leveraged alongside microbial rewilding to restore and conserve ecosystem functions. Together they can reconcile conflicting demands from food-security and ecosystem services, and should become an integral part of nature-based climate solutions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Functional substitutability of native herbivores by livestock for soil carbon depends on microbial decomposers

Roy¹,

Bagchi²

2022

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…To more simply measure effects of grazing on SOC stocks, many people are interested in proxy variables that are correlated with Dung & urine (Wilson et al, 2018), lignin-modifying enzymes (Roy & Bagchi, 2021), soil nitrogen (Piñeiro et al, 2009), soil density (Reinhart et al, 2021) and plant species composition (Bagchi & Ritchie, 2010).…”

Section: Other Con Cern S With C R An Chingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ruminating on the science of carbon ranching

Reinhart

Worogo

Rinella

2021

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. There is interest in reducing CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere by managing livestock grazing to increase carbon (C) storage in soil. However, our understanding of the value of this practice of 'C ranching' is based on studies suffering substantial, overlooked methodological problems.2. We reviewed research into effects of grazing treatments on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks (mass SOC × area ₋1 ). We show the empirical basis for C ranching (C offset) projects relies mainly on studies with unrealistic and overly simplistic livestock grazing treatments (e.g. grazed vs. not grazed), suboptimal experimental designs (e.g. lack pretreatment data, low number of treatment replications) and problematic SOC stock metrics. Synthesis and applications.It is not clear that grazing treatments differ enough in their effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks to reliably offset CO 2 generated by human activities and/or reduce CO 2 concentrations in the atmosphere. Therefore, we caution against overselling the value of carbon (C) ranching. Knowledge of C ranching effects on SOC is inadequate to justify C offset projects that provide ranchers with payment for environmental services. To better quantify benefits of C ranching, we advise using current best practices and expanding C ranching research with more realistic treatments over either broader spatio-temporal scales and/or climate change treatments (e.g. drought, warming, elevated CO 2 ).

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Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

Wang

et al. 2023

Land Degrad Dev

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Despite their significance, how interactions of plant diversity at multiple spatial scales and soil microbial stoichiometry alter a series of ecosystem functions (multifunctionality, EMF) in response to anthropogenic nitrogen (N) input and herbivores are poorly known. We conducted a 17-year sheep grazing experiment with 6-year N addition to explore the impacts of grazing (0, 2.7, 5.3 and 8.7 sheep ha À1 ) and N addition (N0, N5, N10 and N20, i.e., 0, 5, 10 and 20 g N m À2 yr À1 , respectively) on grassland functions and EMF via changes in plant α-and β-diversity, and carbon to nitrogen ratio (C: N) of soil microbes in a typical steppe. The results show that grazing or N addition alone significantly affected EMF with a treatment order of 2.7 and 8.7 sheep ha À1 > 0 and 5.3 sheep ha À1 for grazing intensity or N5 > N10 and N20 > N0 for N addition, which resulted in a significant higher EMF in the combination treatment of 2.7 sheep ha À1 and 5 g N m À2 yr À1 . Plant α-and β-diversity, and soil microbial C:N were the predominant drivers of changes in EMF. Grazing reduced EMF indirectly by decreasing the plant β-diversity. N addition promoted EMF indirectly by decreasing plant α-diversity. In addition, lower plant α-diversity enhanced EMF indirectly by increasing soil microbial C:N. Our results suggest that the negative effects of herbivore on EMF were stronger at larger spatial scales compared to the smaller local communities, while N addition could maintain a higher level of EMF at smaller scales rather than at the larger ones. Our results highlight that multiple spatial scales should be considered to fully unravel the effects of herbivore and eutrophication on ecosystem functions. Our results also demonstrate the important role of soil microbe in maintaining higher grassland multifunctionality, thus we should include the soil microbial functions (i.e., C and N transformation) in further studies. Our results suggest that grazing at a low grazing intensity of 2.7 sheep ha À1 with a low N supplementation of 5 g N m À2 yr À1 could maintain the most important ecosystem functions. Our work provides important insight into grassland conservation and management, aiming to maintain the capacity of grasslands to sustainably supply ecological and productive functions.

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Large Mammalian Herbivores and the Paradox of Soil Carbon in Grazing Ecosystems: Role of Microbial Decomposers and Their Enzymes

Cited by 21 publications

References 70 publications

Functional substitutability of native herbivores by livestock for soil carbon depends on microbial decomposers

Functional substitutability of native herbivores by livestock for soil carbon depends on microbial decomposers

Ruminating on the science of carbon ranching

Plant α‐and β‐diversity, and soil microbial stoichiometry co‐regulate the alterations in ecosystem multifunctionality in response to grazing and N addition in a typical steppe

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