Soil aggregation and the stabilization of organic carbon as affected by erosion and deposition

The importance of soil aggregation in determining the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) during erosion, transportation and deposition is poorly understood. Particularly, we do not know how aggregation contributes to the often-observed accumulation of SOC at depositional sites. Our objective was to assess how aggregation affects SOC stabilization in comparison to interactions of SOC with minerals. We determined and compared aggregate size distributions, SOC distribution in density fractions, and lignin-derived phenols from aggregated soil samples at both eroding and depositional sites. The stabilization effect of aggregation was quantified by comparing mineralization from intact and crushed macro-aggregates. Deposition of eroded soil material resulted in carbon (C) enrichment throughout the soil profile. Both macro-aggregate associated SOC and C associated with minerals (heavy fraction) increased in their importance from the eroding to the depositional site. In the uppermost topsoil (0–5 cm), SOC mineralization from intact aggregates was larger at the depositional site than at the eroding site, reflecting the large input of labile organic matter (plant residues) promoting aggregation. Contrastingly, in the subsoil, mineralization rates were lower at the depositional site because of effective stabilization by interactions with soil minerals. Aggregate crushing increased SOC mineralization by 10–80% at the eroding site, but not at the depositional site. The content of lignin-derived phenols did not differ between eroding and depositional sites in the topsoil (24.6–30.9 mg per g C) but was larger in the subsoil of the eroding site, which was accompanied by higher lignin oxidation. Lignin data indicated minor effects of soil erosion and deposition on the composition of SOC. We conclude that SOC is better protected in aggregates at the eroding than at the depositional site. During transport disaggregation and consequently SOC mineralization took place, while at the depositional site re-aggregation occurred mainly in the form of macro-aggregates. However, this macro-aggregation did not result in a direct stabilization of SOC. We propose that the occlusion of C inside aggregates serves as a pathway for the eroded C to be later stabilized by organo-mineral interaction.     

土壤有机碳作用及转化机制研究进展

对土壤有机碳作用的综述研究显示：直至20世纪末,对于土壤有机碳的研究主要集中于阐明具不同化学结构有机物质在土壤中的功能,如胡敏酸、富里酸、黄腐酸的化学结构特征及在土壤肥力中的作用。中欧近年的研究则更关注按照有机碳在土壤中的转化特征进行分组,尝试建立这一分组与土壤有机碳功能的关联。按照转化特征,土壤有机碳可分为稳定性有机碳和营养性有机碳两大类型。前者主要指封存于土壤黏粒中的有机碳,很难被土壤微生物分解和矿化。后者主要指通过作物收获后地表及根系残留物、还田秸秆、有机肥施肥进入土壤的有机碳,是土壤有机碳中易于转化的、活跃的组分,也是形成土壤腐殖质和团聚体的主要前体物质。对土壤肥力具有重要意义。多点长期定位试验研究结果显示：土壤有机碳含量实际上表达了土壤中有机碳输入与分解两个过程的动态平衡。当输入量小于矿化量,将导致土壤有机碳含量和土壤肥力下降。当每年输入的有机碳量大于矿化量,土壤有机碳含量会持续上升;直至每年输入量与矿化量相等,土壤有机碳含量不再增加,此时,土壤有机碳含量达到平衡点。在一般农业生产条件下,达到平衡点的时间周期为20—30年。在营养性有机碳投入量过高情况下,这一动态平衡系统也会导致入多出多,达到新的平衡点后,每年会有高量土壤有机物质的矿化,从而引起农田土壤中矿质养分,特别是矿质氮的流失,进入水体及大气环境中。为实现土壤培肥和环境保护双重目标,农田土壤营养性有机碳的投入量应以有机碳的矿化流失不致产生环境风险为宜。新的研究还证实：营养性有机碳进入农田后,在土壤生物作用下分解为一系列短链化合物,再通过生物构建作用与土壤矿物颗粒形成土壤团聚体,并以此对多项土壤肥力性状发挥积极作用。受土壤中腐殖化、有机碳分解等不同过程影响,土壤团聚体持续发生着聚合和崩解,只有持续而丰富的营养性有机碳输入,才能维持土壤中总有机-无机团聚体的稳定度。多点长期定位试验结果揭示：土壤有机碳含量主要取决于气候条件、土壤质地与土地利用类型。在人为因素中,土地利用方式的变化对土壤有机碳含量的影响最大,而施肥、秸秆还田、耕作等农作措施对土壤有机碳含量的影响比较小。耕地土壤上,作物类型不同,其典型的耕作和收获方式不同,收获后存留地表和土壤中的根系残留物数量和质量不同,有机质生成能力不同。在种植有机质消耗性作物时,需要注意在轮作制度中引入有机质增加型作物或施用有机肥料,以保持土壤肥力。     

土壤有机碳时空变化研究进展与展望

土壤有机碳不但是土壤肥力形成、粮食生产和土壤健康的基础,而且在全球碳平衡中起着关键的作用,因此,明晰土壤有机碳时空变化规律对于保障土壤健康和粮食安全、发挥土壤生态系统服务功能和应对气候变化等均具有重要意义。本文首先介绍了土壤有机碳时空变化的主要驱动因素和估算方法,随后分析了全球及国家等相对较大尺度上土壤有机碳时空变化研究的主要进展,最后从土壤有机碳模型结构改进、驱动数据分辨率提升、不确定性量化评估等方面综合分析了未来土壤有机碳时空变化研究需亟待解决的重要科学问题。     

川西高山树线交错带海拔梯度上土壤有机碳稳定性特征

高山树线交错带是高海拔地带对环境变化最为敏感的生态系统之一，土壤有机碳库及其稳定性在生态系统变化中具有显著指示作用。通过物理-化学方法对土壤不同活性有机碳进行连续分级分离，研究土壤有机碳不同组分在海拔环境梯度下分布特征及稳定性。结果表明，高山树线交错带土壤有机碳主要集中在物理分级组分（≥0.02 mm），且粒径越大有机碳含量越高，即主要以颗粒态有机碳形式存在，占比均高于98%；在<0.02 mm有机-无机复合体中有机碳采用化学分级分离，这部分有机碳占比低于土壤总有机碳2%，且主要以腐殖质（胡敏素）形式存在（占土壤总有机碳0.6%~0.8%），腐殖质占有机碳比例远低于一般土壤；随着海拔升高，土壤有机碳总量上升，颗粒态有机碳（物理分级组分）比例升高，胡敏素类腐殖质比例下降。因此，川西高海拔树线交错带的高寒土壤有机碳，主要以不稳定有机碳（POC）形式存在，随着温度上升（海拔降低）将导致土壤矿质化和腐殖化加剧，有机碳总量下降，土壤不稳定性组分（物理分级组分）降低，土壤稳定性（腐殖化比例）上升。     

液压挖掘机中超级电容单元的性能试验及SOC估算

超级电容器凭借着其在大功率充放电场合的突出优势,在混合动力液压挖掘机系统的应用中更是发挥了巨大的作用和展现了优良的性能。以应用在并联式混合动力中型液压挖掘机上的由美国MAXWELL公司生产的BM-OD0165P048超级电容单元模块为试验对象,对其进行了相关的动态性能测试和参数测定,并制定了其在大功率充放电应用场合的SOC估算策略,最后对估算方法进行了仿真和试验验证。     

Erosion and deposition history derived by depth-stratigraphy of Cs and soil organic carbon

There are a number of uncertainties in the use of ¹³⁷Cs as a marker for deriving soil erosion rates. However, this should not limit other potential uses of this anthropogenic radionuclide in the study of soil landscape processes. This study outlines a sampling methodology which aids in the assessment of the history of erosion and depositional processes within a landscape unit. The depth distribution of ¹³⁷Cs and soil organic carbon (SOC) was utilized as a means of determining the erosion and depositional history of a conventionally tilled agricultural field in southern Ontario, Canada. Three transects oriented along the slope of a large field had five soil profiles excavated at the summit, sideslope, shoulder slope, footslope and toeslope landscape positions. The soils were sampled in 5 cm increments, and ¹³⁷Cs and SOC were determined on the samples. The results show that soil redistribution within landscape units of agricultural fields has been substantial both before and after fallout of ¹³⁷Cs to the soil surface. Soils in depositional areas contained significant ¹³⁷Cs and SOC at depths beyond which the plow can attain at present. This implies that a significant amount of carbon is being sequestered beneath the present plow layer, and the characterization of this pool must be considered in deriving the dynamics of SOC in agroecosystems.     

耕作对旱区坡耕地土壤碳素转化及冬小麦产量的影响

利用长期定位试验(1999开始保护性耕作,2004年采样测定),在豫西旱区坡耕地上进行了不同耕作对土壤有机碳、微生物态碳及水分利用效率的影响研究。结果表明:深松覆盖和免耕覆盖处理的耕层有机碳增加较明显,以深松覆盖有机碳含量最高为6.79gkg-1,比传统耕作高13.82%,其次是免耕,较传统高11.58%,而少耕却较传统降低了1.38%,随着土层的加深,土壤有机碳含量降低,0～60cm有机碳平均值,深松和免耕较传统分别增加了14.08%、5.41%,少耕较传统减少1.12%。土壤微生物碳对耕作敏感,其含量免耕>深松>传统>少耕,分别为206.87mgkg-1、138.43mgkg-1、115.42mgkg-1和112.57mgkg-1,较传统增加79.3%、19.9%和-2.5%。土壤有机碳和土壤微生物态碳都有坡下富集现象。少耕、免耕、深松和传统的SMBC/SOC的值分别为1.91%、3.11%、2.04%和1.93%,免耕和深松对培肥地力、改善环境有好的应用前景;同时免耕覆盖与深松覆盖可提高产量,增产分别达10.22%与9.26%;可提高水分利用效率。     

Carbon sequestration potential of recommended management practices for paddy soils of China, 1980-2050

China's rice paddies, accounting for 19% of the world's total, play an important role in soil carbon (C) sequestration. In order to reduce uncertainties from upscaling spatial processes of the DeNitrification-DeComposition (DNDC) model for improving the understanding of C sequestration under recommended management practices (RMPs), we parameterized the DNDC model with a 1:1,000,000 polygonal soil database to estimate how RMPs influence potential C sequestration of the top 30 cm of Chinese paddy soils and to identify which management practices have the greatest potential to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) in these soils. These practices include reduced/no tillage, increasing crop residue return, and increasing manure applications. A baseline and eleven RMP scenarios were projected from 2009 to 2080, including traditional and conservation tillage, increasing crop residue return, increasing manure incorporation, and the combination of these practices. The results indicated that C sequestration potential under modeled RMPs increased compared to the baseline scenario, and varied greatly from 29.2 to 847.7 Tg C towards the end of the study period with an average rate of 0.7 to 20.2 Tg C yr^− 1. In general, increasing crop residue return was associated with higher rates of C sequestration when compared to increasing manure application or practicing conservation tillage. The simulations demonstrated that the most effective soil C sequestration strategy probably involves the implementation of a combination of RMPs, and that they vary by location.     

A method for estimating coefficients of soil organic matter dynamics based on long-term experiments

The one-compartment C model C_t=C₀e^−k₂t+k₁A/k₂(1−e^−k₂t) is being long used to simulate soil organic C (SOC) stocks. C_t is the SOC stock at the time t; C₀, the initial SOC stock; k₂, the annual rate of SOC loss (mainly mineralization and erosion); k₁, the annual rate to which the added C is incorporated into SOC; and A, the annual C addition. The component C₀e^−k₂t expresses the decay of C₀ and, for a time t, corresponds to the remains of C₀ (C_0 remains). The component k₁A/k₂(1−e^−k₂t) refers, at time t, to the stock of SOC derived from C crops (C_crop). We herein propose a simple method to estimate k₁ and k₂ coefficients for tillage systems conducted in long-term experiments under several cropping systems with a wide range of annual C additions (A) and SOC stocks. We estimated k₁ and k₂ for conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT), which has been conducted under three cropping systems (oat/maize −O/M, vetch/maize −V/M and oat + vetch/maize + cowpea −OV/MC) and two N-urea rates (0 kg N ha⁻¹ −0 N and 180 kg N ha⁻¹ −180 N) in a long-term experiment established in a subtropical Acrisol with C₀ = 32.55 Mg C ha⁻¹ in the 0–17.5 cm layer. A linear equation (C_t = a + bA) between the SOC stocks measured at the 13th year (0–17.5 cm) and the mean annual C additions was fitted for CT and NT. This equation is equivalent to the equation of the model C_t=C₀e^−k₂t+k₁A/k₂(1−e^−k₂t), so that a=C₀e^−k₂t and bA=k₁A/k₂(1−e^−k₂t). Such equivalences thus allow the calculation of k₁ and k₂. NT soil had a lower rate of C loss (k₂ = 0.019 year⁻¹) than CT soil (k₂ = 0.040 year⁻¹), while k₁ was not affected by tillage (0.148 year⁻¹ under CT and 0.146 year⁻¹ under NT). Despite that only three treatments had lack of fit (LOFIT) value lower than the critical 5% F value, all treatments showed root mean square error (RMSE) lower than RMSE 95% indicating that simulated values fall within 95% confidence interval of the measurements. The estimated SOC stocks at steady state (C_e) in the 0–17.5 cm layer ranged from 15.65 Mg ha⁻¹ in CT O/M 0 N to 60.17 Mg ha⁻¹ in NT OV/MC 180 N. The SOC half-life (t_1/2 = ln 2/k₂) was 36 years in NT and 17 years in CT, reflecting the slower C turnover in NT. The effects of NT on the SOC stocks relates to the maintenance of the initial C stocks (higher C_0 remais), while increments in C_crop are imparted mainly by crop additions.