Premium
Pyrogenic carbon in native grassland soils along a climosequence in North America
Author(s) -
Glaser Bruno,
Amelung Wulf
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/2002gb002019
Subject(s) - soil water , topsoil , soil carbon , environmental science , silt , environmental chemistry , total organic carbon , biomass (ecology) , transect , soil ph , chemistry , soil science , agronomy , ecology , geology , biology , paleontology
Elucidating the role of pyrogenic carbon (C pyr ) as a global pool for CO 2 sequestration in temperate ecosystems requires information on the contribution of C pyr to soil organic carbon (SOC) across different climatic regions. We investigated the effect of climate and basic soil properties on the accumulation of C pyr in surface soils across the native North American prairies. Topsoil samples (0–10 cm) of 18 native grassland sites along temperature and precipitation transects from central Saskatoon, Canada, to south Texas, USA, were analyzed for benzenecarboxylic acids as molecular markers for C pyr after nitric acid oxidation in the bulk soil (<2 mm), clay‐ (<2 μm) and silt‐sized (2–20 μm) separates. C pyr contributed between 4 and 18% to SOC, the major proportions of C pyr being mostly found in the clay and silt fractions. C pyr in soil did not correlate with basic inorganic soil properties such as pH or clay content, but it increased significantly as SOC contents increased (r 2 = 0.78; P < 0.001). Obviously, C pyr co‐accumulated with dead biomass. Since this accumulation depends on climate, also C pyr contents in soil depend on climate and may be predicted by the logarithm of the ratio of mean annual temperature (MAT) to mean annual precipitation (MAP) (P < 0.05). We conclude that the natural potential of soils to sequester C pyr reflects both, (1) higher C pyr production at sites with high plant biomass in moist climates, and (2) lower C pyr residence time at soils acting as a CO 2 source in warm climates.