Dynamics of carbon pools in post-agrogenic sandy soils of southern taiga of Russia

• Main Authors: Olga Kalinina, Sergey V Goryachkin, Nina A Karavaeva, Dmitriy I Lyuri, Luise Giani
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: taiga
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.319.5448; http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1750-0680-5-1.pdf

Background: Until recently, a lot of arable lands were abandoned in many countries of the world and, especially, in Russia, where about half a million square kilometers of arable lands were abandoned in 1961-2007. The soils at these fallows undergo a process of natural restoration (or self-restoration) that changes the balance of soil organic matter (SOM) supply and mineralization. Results: A soil chronosequence study, covering the ecosystems of 3, 20, 55, 100, and 170 years of self-restoration in southern taiga zone, shows that soil organic content of mineral horizons remains relatively stable during the selfrestoration. This does not imply, however, that SOM pools remain steady. The C/N ratio of active SOM reached steady state after 55 years, and increased doubly (from 12.5- 15.6 to 32.2-33.8). As to the C/N ratio of passive SOM, it has been continuously increasing (from 11.8-12.7 to 19.0-22.8) over the 170 years, and did not reach a steady condition. Conclusion: The results of the study imply that soil recovery at the abandoned arable sandy lands of taiga is incredibly slow process. Not only soil morphological features of a former ploughing remained detectable but also the balance of soil organic matter input and mineralization remained unsteady after 170 years of self-restoration. Background Until recently, a lot of arable lands were abandoned in