Soil Carbon Management

Better Manage Soil C for Improved Soil Quality In the United States, soil has fueled the availability of abundant, safe food, thus underpinning economic growth and development. In the future we need to be more vigilant in managing and renewing this precious resource by replacing the nutrients and life-sustaining matter that we remove for

This book brings together the essential evidence and policy opportunities regarding the global importance of soil carbon for sustaining Earth's life support system for humanity. Covering the science and policy background for this important natural resource, it describes land management options that improve soil carbon status and therefore increase the benefits that humans derive from the environment. Written by renowned global experts, it is the principal output from a SCOPE rapid assessment process project.

Soil Management and Climate Change: Effects on Organic Carbon, Nitrogen Dynamics, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions provides a state of the art overview of recent findings and future research challenges regarding physical, chemical and biological processes controlling soil carbon, nitrogen dynamic and greenhouse gas emissions from soils. This book is for students and academics in soil science and environmental science, land managers, public administrators and legislators, and will increase understanding of organic matter preservation in soil and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. Given the central role soil plays on the global carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles and its impact on greenhouse gas emissions, there is an urgent need to increase our common understanding about sources, mechanisms and processes that regulate organic matter mineralization and stabilization, and to identify those management practices and processes which mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, helping increase organic matter stabilization with suitable supplies of available N. Provides the latest findings about soil organic matter stabilization and greenhouse gas emissions Covers the effect of practices and management on soil organic matter stabilization Includes information for readers to select the most suitable management practices to increase soil organic matter stabilization

Global Change and Forest Soils: Cultivating Stewardship of a Finite Natural Resource, Volume 36, provides a state-of-the-science summary and synthesis of global forest soils that identifies concerns, issues and opportunities for soil adaptation and mitigation as external pressures from global changes arise. Where, how and why some soils are resilient to global change while others are at risk is explored, as are upcoming train wrecks and success stories across boreal, temperate, and tropical forests. Each chapter offers multiple sections written by leading soil scientists who comment on wildfires, climate change and forest harvesting effects, while also introducing examples of current global issues. Readers will find this book to be an integrated, up-to-date assessment on global forest soils. Presents sections on boreal, temperate and tropical soils for a diverse audience Serves as an important reference source for anyone interested in both a big-picture assessment of global soil issues and an in-depth examination of specific environmental topics Provides a unique synthesis of forest soils and their collective ability to respond to global change Offers chapters written by leading soil scientists Prepares readers to meet the daily challenges of drafting multi-resource environmental science and policy documents

Soil Carbon Storage: Modulators, Mechanisms and Modeling takes a novel approach to the issue of soil carbon storage by considering soil C sequestration as a function of the interaction between biotic (e.g. microbes and plants) and abiotic (climate, soil types, management practices) modulators as a key driver of soil C. These modulators are central to C balance through their processing of C from both plant inputs and native soil organic matter. This book considers this concept in the light of state-of-the-art methodologies that elucidate these interactions and increase our understanding of a vitally important, but poorly characterized component of the global C cycle. The book provides soil scientists with a comprehensive, mechanistic, quantitative and predictive understanding of soil carbon storage. It presents a new framework that can be included in predictive models and management practices for better prediction and enhanced C storage in soils. Identifies management practices to enhance storage of soil C under different agro-ecosystems, soil types and climatic conditions Provides novel conceptual frameworks of biotic (especially microbial) and abiotic data to improve prediction of simulation model at plot to global scale Advances the conceptual framework needed to support robust predictive models and sustainable land management practices

Few topics cut across the soil science discipline wider than research on soil carbon. This book contains 48 chapters that focus on novel and exciting aspects of soil carbon research from all over the world. It includes review papers by global leaders in soil carbon research, and the book ends with a list and discussion of global soil carbon research priorities. Chapters are loosely grouped in four sections: § Soil carbon in space and time § Soil carbon properties and processes § Soil use and carbon management § Soil carbon and the environment A wide variety of topics is included: soil carbon modelling, measurement, monitoring, microbial dynamics, soil carbon management and 12 chapters focus on national or regional soil carbon stock assessments. The book provides up-to-date information for researchers interested in soil carbon in relation to climate change and to researchers that are interested in soil carbon for the maintenance of soil quality and fertility. Papers in this book were presented at the IUSS Global Soil C Conference that was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

This edited book discusses how effective soil carbon management plans and policies will ultimately make agriculture more secure against climate change and soil degradation. It is focused on initiatives to enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) and sequestration by launching different schemes and programs. An approach based on practical aspects of managing SOC in agriculture is provided with clear and concise descriptions. It has more attention to successfully implement plans and policies to meet the required level of SOC restoration. The book is covering the urgent needs of plans and policies for soil management and C restoration in agricultural ecosystems which can be beneficial to food, nutrition, environment, and economy security. There is also providing a roadmap on SOC policies to encourage the use of best management practices (BMPs) for soil health and C stock restoration, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. The book is suitable for teachers, researchers, government planners and policymakers, undergraduate and graduate students of soil science, soil microbiology, agronomy, ecology, and environmental sciences.

This book addresses the importance of soil processes in the global carbon cycle.Agricultural activities considered responsible for an increase in CO2 levels in our atmosphere include: deforestation, biomass burning, tillage and intensive cultivation, and drainage of wetlands.However, agriculture can also be a solution to the problem in which carbon can be removed from the atmosphere and permanently sequestered into the soil. Management of Carbon Sequestration in Soil highlights the importance of world soils as a sink for atmospheric carbon and discusses the impact of tillage, conservation reserve programs (CRP), management of grasslands and woodlands, and other soil and crop management and land use practices that lead to carbon sequestration.