Tunisian Soil Organic Carbon Stocks

Brahim, Nadhem; Bernoux, Martial; Breton, Didier; Gallali, Tahar

doi:10.3923/ijss.2010.34.40

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…where SOCs is the soil organic carbon concentration (%) in layer i and Di is the thickness of this layer (cm), CE is the percentage of coarse elements (relative to the mass of the soil) [52,53].…”

Section: Soc Stocks Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm and Fertile Sub-Humid Conditions Enhance Litterfall to Sustain High Soil Respiration Fluxes in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Forest

Zribi

Mouillot

Gharbi

et al. 2015

Forests

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Soil respiration is a major component of the global carbon budget and Mediterranean ecosystems have usually been studied in locations with shallow soils, mild temperatures, and a prolonged dry season. This study investigates seasonal soil respiration rates and underlying mechanisms under wetter, warmer, and more fertile conditions in a Mediterranean cork oak forest of Northern Tunisia (Africa), acknowledged as one of the most productive forests in the Mediterranean basin. We applied a soil respiration model based on soil temperature and relative water content and investigated how ecosystem functioning under these favorable conditions affected soil carbon storage through carbon inputs to the soil litter. Annual soil respiration rates varied between 1774 gC m −2 year −1 and 2227 gC m −2 year −1 , which is on the highest range of observations under Mediterranean climate conditions. We attributed this high soil carbon flux as a response to favorable temperatures and soil water content, but this could be sustained only by a small carbon allocation to roots (root/shoot ratio = 0.31-0.41) leading to a large allocation to leaves OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 2919 with a multiannual leaf production, enhanced annual twig elongation (11.5-28.5 cm) with a reduced leaf life span (<1 year) maintaining a low LAI (1.68-1.88) and generating a high litterfall (386-636 gC m −2 year −1 ). Thus, the favorable climatic and edaphic conditions experienced by these Mediterranean cork oak forests drove high soil respiration fluxes which balanced the high carbon assimilation leading to a relatively small overall contribution (10.96-14.79 kgC m −2 ) to soil carbon storage.

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Section: Soc Stocks Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Warm and Fertile Sub-Humid Conditions Enhance Litterfall to Sustain High Soil Respiration Fluxes in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Forest

Zribi

Mouillot

Gharbi

et al. 2015

Forests

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“…Mediterranean soils are characterized by low amounts of OM, which results in soil fertility decline and structure loss ( Van-Camp et al, 2004). Furthermore, SOC is variable across land use (Brahim et al, 2010), and most agricultural soils are poor in OM, often comprising less than 1 % (Achiba et al, 2009;Parras-Alcántara et al, 2016;Muñoz-Rojas et al, 2012). In Mediterranean soils, loss of OM leads to a reduction in root penetration, soil moisture, and soil permeability, which in turn reduces vegetation cover and biological activity and increases runoff and risk of erosion (Stanners and Bourdeau, 1995).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of land use and topography on soil organic carbon in a Mediterranean landscape (north-western Tunisia)

Jendoubi

Liniger

Speranza

2019

SOIL

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This study evaluates the impact of land use and topographic features (slope and aspect) on soil organic carbon (SOC) within the Wadi Beja watershed in north-western Tunisia. A soil spectral library was set up to assess the variation in the SOC for 1440 soil samples from four land use types (field crops, permanent crops, forest, and grazing land), three slope categories (flat, moderate, and steep) and two aspects (north-and southfacing). For field crops, only one factor -slope -significantly affected SOC, with SOC content in north-facing areas appearing to be higher in flat areas (0.75 %) than in hilly areas (0.51 %). However, in south-facing areas, SOC content was also higher in flat areas (0.74 %) than in hilly areas (0.50 %). For permanent crops, which were inter-planted with field crops, the slope significantly affected SOC content, which improved to 0.97 % in flat north-facing and 0.96 % in flat south-facing areas, scoring higher than hilly south-and north-facing areas (0.79 %). In the grazing land use system, both of the investigated factors -aspect and slope -significantly affected the SOC content, which was significantly higher in flat areas (north-facing: 0.84 %, south-facing: 0.77 %) than in hilly areas (north-facing: 0.61 %, south-facing: 0.56 %). For the forest, none of the factors had a significant effect on SOC content, which was higher in flat areas (north-facing: 1.15 %, south-facing: 1.14 %) than in steep areas (1.09 % in north-facing areas and 1.07 % in south-facing areas). This study highlights the ability of visible and near-infrared (VNIR) spectroscopy to quantify C in diverse soils collected over a large diverse geographic area in order to indicate that calibrations are feasible, and therefore, assessing the variation of SOC content under land use and topographic features (slope and aspect) will result in better sustainable land management planning.

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“…where SOC s is the soil organic carbon stock (kg C/m 2 ), D bi is the bulk density (g ⁄cm 3 ) of layer i, C i is the soil organic carbon concentration (%) in layer i and D i is the thickness of this layer (cm), and CE is the percentage of coarse elements (relative to the mass of the soil) (Brahim et al, 2010;Martin et al, 2011).…”

Section: Cork Oak Tree Biomass and Carbon Concentrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimate of biomass and carbon pools in disturbed and undisturbed oak forests in Tunisia

et al. 2016

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Aim of the study. To estimate biomass and carbon accumulation in a young and disturbed forest (regenerated after a tornado) and an aged cork oak forest (undisturbed forest) as well as its distribution among the different pools (tree, litter and soil).Area of study. The north west of Tunisia Material and methods. Carbon stocks were evaluated in the above and belowground cork oak trees, the litter and the 150 cm of the soil. Tree biomass was estimated in both young and aged forests using allometric biomass equations developed for wood stem, cork stem, wood branch, cork branch, leaves, roots and total tree biomass based on combinations of diameter at breast height, total height and crown length as independent variables.Main results. Total tree biomass in forests was 240.58 Mg ha -1 in the young forest and 411.30 Mg ha -1 in the aged forest with a low root/shoot ratio (0.41 for young forest and 0.31 for aged forest). Total stored carbon was 419.46 Mg C ha -1 in the young forest and 658.09 Mg C ha -1 in the aged forest. Carbon stock (Mg C ha Research highlights. Aged undisturbed forest had the largest tree biomass but a lower potential for accumulation of carbon in the future; in contrast, young disturbed forest had both higher growth and carbon storage potential.

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Tunisian Soil Organic Carbon Stocks

Cited by 23 publications

References 14 publications

Warm and Fertile Sub-Humid Conditions Enhance Litterfall to Sustain High Soil Respiration Fluxes in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Forest

Warm and Fertile Sub-Humid Conditions Enhance Litterfall to Sustain High Soil Respiration Fluxes in a Mediterranean Cork Oak Forest

Impacts of land use and topography on soil organic carbon in a Mediterranean landscape (north-western Tunisia)

Estimate of biomass and carbon pools in disturbed and undisturbed oak forests in Tunisia

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