Soil science in the time of climate mitigation

Amundson, Ronald; Buck, Holly Jean; Lajtha, Kate

doi:10.1007/s10533-022-00952-6

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This is particularly so as heathland soil C may also become less stable under future climatic conditions 32 . In addition, it has been suggested that soil carbon practises may be maladaptive if it results in a loss of revenue or yield 33 , as would be typically the case with a land use change away from agriculture to heathland. Furthermore, conservation of lowland heath often results in the removal of trees, or disruption of vegetation succession, limiting the potential for carbon storage above-ground 34 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath

Duddigan,

Hales-Henao,

Bruce

et al. 2024

Commun Earth Environ

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The conversion of lowland heathland to agricultural land in Europe significantly depleted soil carbon stocks. Restoring heathlands has been proposed as a mechanism to sequester soil carbon. Here we compared soil carbon in (i) agricultural pasture; (ii) native heathland and (iii) restored heathland through acidification with elemental sulfur (sulphur). After 18 years of soil acidification, soil chemical properties (pH, extractable nutrients etc.), fauna and vegetation assemblage resembled that of native heathlands. However, native heathland was found to contain more than double the soil carbon stock of restored heath, with significantly higher contents of stable soil organic matter, and restored heath soil carbon was not significantly different to the control pasture. This result, combined with supporting findings of a comprehensive literature review, has ramifications for carbon-sequestration proposals, given the urgency required for climate mitigation tools.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath

Duddigan,

Hales-Henao,

Bruce

et al. 2024

Commun Earth Environ

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“…Increases in soil carbon are associated with numerous potential benefits, one of which is climate change mitigation (Bradford et al, 2019;Vermeulen et al, 2019;Amundson et al, 2022). Immediately halting the loss of existing soil carbon also has a climate impact, by stopping the continued release of CO 2 into the atmosphere.…”

Section: Why Is Soil Carbon So Important For Climate Change Mitigatio...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Grounding United States policies and programs in soil carbon science: strengths, limitations, and opportunities

Gelardi

Rath

Kruger

2023

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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The advent of “natural climate solutions” and “climate smart agriculture” has increased interest in managing agricultural lands to sequester soil carbon and mitigate climate change. This has led to enormous opportunities for soil scientists and growers alike, as new soil carbon initiatives are created by public, private, and philanthropic entities. It has also led to confusion over what is possible or practical to achieve through agricultural management, as soil carbon formation and storage is complex, and its response to management is context-dependent. This can pose challenges to decision makers tasked with creating defensible, science-informed policies and programs for building and protecting soil carbon. Here we summarize the science concerning the potential for agricultural soils to serve as a natural climate solution, in order to frame a discussion of current approaches in United States (US) policy and practice. We examine existing strategies such as soil health initiatives and direct incentive payments, as well as emerging schemes such as carbon markets and crop insurance reform. We suggest future directions for each strategy, and make recommendations for synthesizing approaches into a cohesive US policy portfolio. Guiding principles for this discussion include the notions that (i) climate change adaptation must be prioritized alongside climate change mitigation; (ii) soil carbon sequestration must be paired with greenhouse gas emission reductions; (iii) structural issues and barriers to adoption must be addressed as part of all policies and programs; (iv) practice- and place-specific programs must be administered in lieu of one-size-fits-all prescriptions; and (v) soil carbon science is not yet sufficiently advanced for the accounting and contractual frameworks proposed in cap-and-trade or regulatory approaches.

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Expanding the scope of biogeochemical research to accelerate atmospheric carbon capture

Silva

2022

Biogeochemistry

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Soil science in the time of climate mitigation

Cited by 8 publications

References 34 publications

Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath

Restored lowland heathlands store substantially less carbon than undisturbed lowland heath

Grounding United States policies and programs in soil carbon science: strengths, limitations, and opportunities

Expanding the scope of biogeochemical research to accelerate atmospheric carbon capture

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