New uses for old tools: Reviving Holdridge Life Zones in soil carbon persistence research

Jungkunst, Hermann F.; Goepel, Jan; Horvath, Thomas; Ott, Simone; Brunn, Melanie

doi:10.1002/jpln.202100008

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…2 c). Relationships probably will differ across ecozones 27 but potentially explaining variables always will proof independent of land-use. Most likely for low soil development (no B-horizon) exhibiting a high amount of unassociated carbon (POM) the standard relation between PCM (g kg −1 ) and total SOC (g kg −1 ) will not result in tight relationships like for this study (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-use induced soil carbon stabilization at the expense of rock derived nutrients: insights from pristine Andean soils

Jungkunst

Heitkamp

Doetterl

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Soils contain significantly more carbon than the atmosphere, hence we should understand how best to stabilize it. Unfortunately, the role of human interventions on soil organic carbon (SOC) persistence in the Anthropocene remains vague, lacking adequate sites that allow unbiased direct comparisons of pristine and human influenced soils. Here we present data from a unique study system in the High Andes that guarantees pristineness of the reference sites by physical inaccessibility through vertical cliffs. By comparing the isotopic signatures of SOC, mineral related carbon stabilization, and soil nutrient status across grazed versus pristine soils, we provide counterintuitive evidence that thousands of years of pastoralism increased soil C persistence. Mineral associated organic carbon (MAOC) was significantly higher in pastures. Land use increased poorly crystalline minerals (PCM’s), of which aluminum correlated best with MAOC. On the other hand, human’s acceleration of weathering led to acidification and higher losses of cations. This highlights a dilemma of lower soil quality but higher persistence of SOC due to millennia of pastoralism. The dynamics of soil genesis in the Anthropocene needs better understanding, but if human-induced weathering proves generally to promote soil carbon persistence it will need to be included in climate—soil feedback projections.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-use induced soil carbon stabilization at the expense of rock derived nutrients: insights from pristine Andean soils

Jungkunst

Heitkamp

Doetterl

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…The effect of MAT and MAP on SOC stocks was rather complex (Figure 5A,B). The general view is, that increasing temperature decreases and increasing precipitation increases SOC stocks (Jungkunst et al., 2021; Springob et al., 2001). Most likely, interactions of decomposition of OC and productivity of vegetation interact with the water balance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial 3D mapping of forest soil carbon stocks in Hesse, Germany

Heitkamp

Ahrends

Evers

et al. 2021

J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci.

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Background Forest soils are an important reservoir of organic carbon (OC) and a potential source or sink for atmospheric CO2. Prediction of OC stock changes under ongoing climatic and management changes requires a spatial explicit base. Knowledge of the vertical distribution of OC stocks is very important, since varying soil layers may be affected differently by environmental change. Aim Three‐dimensional regionalization of OC stocks of the forest floor (FFC) and 5 cm depth increments of the mineral soil (SOC) of Hesse, Germany. Methods Datasets of the second National Forest Soil Inventory (NFSI II) were used for parametrization of hierarchical generalized additive models (hGAM). Validation was performed by a 10 times repeated 10‐fold cross‐validation, and spatial model uncertainty was assessed. Results Depth‐dependent validation indicated that model performance was best between 15 and 60 cm (amount of variance explained ≈ 0.5). All covariates showed plausible partial effects. FFC stocks were predicted to be highest under coniferous forest with a high influence of N deposition. Climate and potential cation exchange capacity affected SOC stocks markedly, whereas soil class and parent material were most important for the depth distribution. Overall, average predicted OC stocks were between 78.0 and 92.5 t ha−1, amounting to 67.6 to 80.1 Mt for all forest soils of Hesse. Between 16% and 24% were stored in the forest floor. Sixty‐eight percent to 69% of predicted SOC stocks were stored in the upper 30 cm. Model uncertainty was highest at locations with high elevation or ground water influence. Conclusions This work provides the first spatial explicit database for OC stocks of forest soils in Hesse at an intermediate scale. Stocks can be assessed flexibly for varying depth from the forest floor down to 100 cm. Uncertainty analysis informs about locations, where the model results have to be handled with care.

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“…Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ) (Holdridge, 1947;Holdridge, 1964) proved to be a highly suitable polygon-based system for demonstrating process-oriented regional SOC distribution across the globe (Jungkunst et al, 2021;Post et al, 1982) (Figure 3). Already 40 years ago, Post et al (1982) argued it to be "important to establish the relationships between the geographical distribution of SOC and climate as a basis for assessing the influence of changes."…”

Section: Climate Classification As Critical Mesoscale To Identify Glo...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Global soil organic carbon–climate interactions: Why scales matter

Jungkunst

Göpel

Horvath

et al. 2022

WIREs Climate Change

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Soil organic carbon (SOC) holds the largest terrestrial carbon stock because of soil conditions and processes that favor soil carbon persistence. Vulnerable to climate change, SOC may cross a tipping point toward liberating carbon-based greenhouse gases, implying massive self-amplifying SOC-climate interactions.Estimates of SOC persistence are challenging as we still lack broad mechanistic insights. Upscaling mechanistic details from small to larger scales is challenging because the driving factors are not available at the needed resolution. Downscaling is problematic as many modeling studies point to the highest uncertainties deriving from the SOC response to climate change, while models themselves have difficulties in replicating contemporary soil properties and dynamics. To bridge the problems of scaling, strict process orientation seems adequate.Holdridge Life Zones (HLZ) classification, as one example, is a climate classification framework at a mesoscale that provides a descriptive approach to facilitate the identification of potential hotspots and coldspots of SOC-climate interaction.Establishing coordinated experiments across all HLZ, but also including multiple global change drivers, has the potential to advance our understanding of general principles regulating SOC-climate interaction and SOC persistence. Therefore, regionally tailored solutions for both experiments and modeling are urgently needed and can lead to better management of soil and the ecosystem services provided. Improving "translations" from the scales relevant for process understanding to the scales of decision-making is key to good management and to predict the fate of our largest terrestrial carbon stock.

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New uses for old tools: Reviving Holdridge Life Zones in soil carbon persistence research

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Land-use induced soil carbon stabilization at the expense of rock derived nutrients: insights from pristine Andean soils

Land-use induced soil carbon stabilization at the expense of rock derived nutrients: insights from pristine Andean soils

Spatial 3D mapping of forest soil carbon stocks in Hesse, Germany

Global soil organic carbon–climate interactions: Why scales matter

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