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Soil Organic Carbon Pools of Two Tropical Soils Inferred by Carbon Signatures
Author(s) -
Hsieh YuchPing
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1996.03615995006000040022x
Subject(s) - soil water , soil carbon , carbon fibers , saccharum officinarum , environmental science , temperate climate , total organic carbon , soil science , chemistry , agronomy , environmental chemistry , ecology , biology , mathematics , algorithm , composite number
Labile and stable soil organic carbon (SOC) pools of two tropical soils of Belize, Central America, as influenced by land use management, were investigated using a combination of 14 C and 13 C techniques. The sizes and mean residence times (MRT) of the labile pools were found to be in the range of 1.5 to 59.8 g/kg and 5 to 8 yr, respectively, and those of the stable SOC pools, 25.1 to 65.2 g/kg and 250 to 388 yr, respectively. Both the labile and stable SOC pools have significantly shorter MRT than those of the temperate soils. The labile SOC pools of sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum L.) in continuous management averaged 12.9 and 19.8 g/kg, respectively, for Xaibe (Lithic Ustropept) and Louisville (Typic Pellustert) soils. Continuous sugarcane management reduced the labile pool to about one‐third the size of the corresponding secondary forests. The labile SOC pools is sensitive to changes in management practices and its size represents the intrinsic sustainable soil productivity. A radiocarbon single‐plot approach to study the dynamics of SOC pools was developed using the 14 C and 13 C signatures of the soil and those of the CO 2 evolved. The results of the single‐plot method and that of the paired‐plot method agree well within the range of the experimental errors.