Afforestation Effects on Soil Carbon Storage in the United States: A Synthesis

Afforestation (tree establishment on nonforested land) is a management option for increasing terrestrial C sequestration and mitigating rising atmospheric carbon dioxide because, compared to nonforested land uses, afforestation increases C storage in aboveground pools. However, because terrestrial ecosystems typically store most of their C in soils, afforestation impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) storage are critical components of ecosystem C budgets. We applied synthesis methods to identify the magnitude and drivers of afforestation impacts on SOC, and the temporal and vertical distributions of SOC change during afforestation in the United States. Meta-analysis of 39 papers from 1957 to 2010 indicated that previous land use drives afforestation impacts on SOC in mineral soils (overall average = +21%), but mined and other industrial lands (+173%) and wildlands (+31%) were the only groups that specifically showed categorically significant increases. Temporal patterns of SOC increase were statistically significant on former industrial and agricultural lands (assessed by continuous meta-analysis), and suggested that meaningful SOC increases require ≥15 and 30 yr of afforestation, respectively. Meta-analysis of ¹³C data demonstrated the greatest SOC changes occur at the surface soil of the profile, although partial replacement of C stocks derived from previous land uses was frequently detectable below 1 m. A geospatial analysis of 409 profiles from the National Soil Carbon Network database supported ¹³C meta-analysis results, indicating that transition from cultivation to forest increased A horizon SOC by 32%. In sum, our findings demonstrate that afforestation has significant, positive effects on SOC sequestration in the United States, although these effects require decades to manifest and primarily occur in the uppermost (and perhaps most vulnerable) portion of the mineral soil profile.

[1]  D. Markewitz,et al.  SOIL CHANGE AND CARBON STORAGE IN LONGLEAF PINE STANDS PLANTED ON MARGINAL AGRICULTURAL LANDS , 2002 .

[2]  R. Lal,et al.  Potential of mine land reclamation for soil organic carbon sequestration in Ohio. , 2000 .

[3]  B. McCarl,et al.  Enhancement of Carbon Sequestration in US Soils , 2004 .

[4]  Rattan Lal,et al.  Changes in soil carbon and nutrient pools along a chronosequence of poplar plantations in the Columbia Plateau, Oregon, USA , 2007 .

[5]  R. Gifford,et al.  Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis , 2002 .

[6]  J. Bhatti,et al.  Ecosystem carbon stocks and distribution under different land-uses in north central Alberta, Canada , 2009 .

[7]  S. Ismail,et al.  Carbon and nitrogen storage in agroforests, tree plantations, and pastures in western Oregon, USA , 2004, Agroforestry Systems.

[8]  P. Bird Tree windbreaks and shelter benefits to pasture in temperate grazing systems , 2004, Agroforestry Systems.

[9]  O. V. Auken Shrub Invasions of North American Semiarid Grasslands , 2000 .

[10]  S. Pallardy,et al.  Biomass production physiology and soil carbon dynamics in short-rotation-grown Populus deltoides and P. deltoides × P. nigra hybrids , 2009 .

[11]  G. Asner,et al.  Soil carbon storage responses to expanding pinyon-juniper populations in southern Utah. , 2009, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[12]  M. Rillig Arbuscular mycorrhizae, glomalin, and soil aggregation , 2004 .

[13]  V. R. Tolbert,et al.  Comparing Soil Carbon of Short Rotation Poplar Plantations with Agricultural Crops and Woodlots in North Central United States , 2004 .

[14]  W. D. Batchelor,et al.  Predicting maize and soybean production in a sheltered field in the Cornbelt region of North Central USA , 2005, Agroforestry Systems.

[15]  D. Geisseler,et al.  Effects of fertilization and soil management on crop yields and carbon stabilization in soils. A review , 2011, Agronomy for Sustainable Development.

[16]  E. Hansen Soil carbon sequestration beneath hybrid poplar plantations in the North Central United States , 1993 .

[17]  Jessica Gurevitch,et al.  THE META‐ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE RATIOS IN EXPERIMENTAL ECOLOGY , 1999 .

[18]  D. Binkley,et al.  CHANGES IN SOIL CARBON FOLLOWING AFFORESTATION IN HAWAII , 1998 .

[19]  M. Liebig,et al.  Soil carbon and nitrogen across a chronosequence of woody plant expansion in North Dakota , 2010, Plant and Soil.

[20]  P. Nair,et al.  Environmental quality improvement of agricultural lands through silvopasture in southeastern United States , 2007 .

[21]  Peter S. Curtis,et al.  Harvest impacts on soil carbon storage in temperate forests , 2010 .

[22]  P. E T E,et al.  Old and stable soil organic matter is not necessarily chemically recalcitrant : implications for modeling concepts and temperature sensitivity , 2010 .

[23]  Arthur H. Johnson,et al.  Biomass and Nutrient Accumulation During Natural Afforestation of Iron‐Smelting Slag , 1997 .

[24]  S. Wilde CHANGES IN SOIL PRODUCTIVITY INDUCED BY PINE PLANTATIONS , 1964 .

[25]  E. Vance Agricultural site productivity: principles derived from long-term experiments and their implications for intensively managed forests. , 2000 .

[26]  D. R. Linden,et al.  Crop and Soil Productivity Response to Corn Residue Removal: A Literature Review , 2004 .

[27]  N. Christensen,et al.  Soil mineral nitrogen transformations during succession in the piedmont of north carolina , 1985 .

[28]  R. Lal,et al.  The Depth Distribution of Soil Organic Carbon in Relation to Land Use and Management and the Potential of Carbon Sequestration in Subsoil Horizons , 2005 .

[29]  F. Hagedorn,et al.  How strongly can forest management influence soil carbon sequestration , 2007 .

[30]  R. Ceulemans,et al.  Mycorrhizal Hyphal Turnover as a Dominant Process for Carbon Input into Soil Organic Matter , 2006, Plant and Soil.

[31]  S. Morris,et al.  Evaluation of carbon accrual in afforested agricultural soils , 2007 .

[32]  A. Lucier,et al.  Forest carbon management in the United States: 1600-2100. , 2006, Journal of environmental quality.

[33]  G. A. Leisman A vegetation and soil chronosequence on the Mesabi iron range spoil banks, Minnesota , 1957 .

[34]  M. Bashkin,et al.  Soil carbon accretion and earthworm recovery following revegetation in abandoned sugarcane fields , 1998 .

[35]  S. Archer,et al.  δ13C values of soil organic carbon and their use in documenting vegetation change in a subtropical savanna ecosystem , 1998 .

[36]  S. Pallardy,et al.  Resource competition across the crop-tree interface in a maize-silver maple temperate alley cropping stand in Missouri , 2001, Agroforestry Systems.

[37]  N. Comerford,et al.  Surface soil carbon size–density fractions altered by loblolly pine families and forest management intensity for a Spodosol in the southeastern US , 2008, Plant and Soil.

[38]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  THE VERTICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL ORGANIC CARBON AND ITS RELATION TO CLIMATE AND VEGETATION , 2000 .

[39]  C. Cerri,et al.  Organic matter and natural carbon-13 distribution in forested and cultivated oxisols , 1989 .

[40]  S. Jose,et al.  Defining competition vectors in a temperate alley cropping system in the midwestern USA: 2. Competition for water , 2000, Agroforestry Systems.

[41]  Evelyne Thiffault,et al.  Effects of forest biomass harvesting on soil productivity in boreal and temperate forests - a review. , 2011 .

[42]  Jana E. Compton,et al.  FOREST ECOSYSTEM CARBON AND NITROGEN ACCUMULATION DURING THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER AGRICULTURAL ABANDONMENT , 2003 .

[43]  M. Torn,et al.  Large contribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to soil carbon pools in tropical forest soils , 2001, Plant and Soil.

[44]  B. Lepore,et al.  Tree Encroachment Impacts Carbon Dynamics in a Sand Prairie in Wisconsin , 2010 .

[45]  R. Birdsey,et al.  Methods for calculating forest ecosystem and harvested carbon with standard estimates for forest types of the United States , 2006 .

[46]  David Paré,et al.  Carbon accumulation in agricultural soils after afforestation: a meta‐analysis , 2010 .

[47]  D. Lewis,et al.  Soil organic carbon content and composition of 130‐year crop, pasture and forest land‐use managements , 2004 .

[48]  D. L. Graney,et al.  The Relative Growth of Three Forest Tree Species on Soils Associated with Different Successional Stages in Virginia , 1970 .

[49]  D. F. Grigal,et al.  Soil carbon changes associated with short-rotation systems , 1998 .

[50]  J. Balesdent,et al.  Soil Organic Matter Turnover in Long-term Field Experiments as Revealed by Carbon-13 Natural Abundance , 1988 .

[51]  R. Hendrick,et al.  The effects of management on soil and plant carbon sequestration in slash pine plantations , 2001 .

[52]  P. Curtis,et al.  Impacts of elevated N inputs on north temperate forest soil C storage, C/N, and net N-mineralization , 2009 .

[53]  Matthias Peichl,et al.  Above- and belowground ecosystem biomass and carbon pools in an age-sequence of temperate pine plantation forests , 2006 .

[54]  D. Binkley,et al.  Rapid changes in soils following eucalyptus afforestation in Hawaii , 1999 .

[55]  R. Lal Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change , 2004 .

[56]  Bruce A. Hungate,et al.  MYCORRHIZAL CONTROLS ON BELOWGROUND LITTER QUALITY , 2003 .

[57]  Jeremiah S. Duncan,et al.  Competition for Water , 2009 .

[58]  N. Christensen,et al.  Nitrification and Succession in the Piedmont of North Carolina , 1979 .

[59]  G. Rolfe,et al.  Soil Conditions Under Old Field and Forest Cover in Southern Illinois1 , 1973 .

[60]  Keryn I. Paul,et al.  Change in soil carbon following afforestation , 2002 .

[61]  J. Ladha,et al.  Role of nitrogen fertilization in sustaining organic matter in cultivated soils. , 2011, Journal of environmental quality.

[62]  J. Whalen,et al.  Spatial heterogeneity of soil organic carbon in tree-based intercropping systems in Quebec and Ontario, Canada , 2010, Agroforestry Systems.

[63]  L. Hedges,et al.  Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis , 1987 .

[64]  W. C. Johnson,et al.  Phytomass and detrital carbon storage during forest regrowth in the southeastern United States Piedmont , 1989 .

[65]  R. Alvarez,et al.  A review of nitrogen fertilizer and conservation tillage effects on soil organic carbon storage , 2005 .

[66]  J. Jastrow,et al.  Storage and dynamics of carbon and nitrogen in soil physical fractions following woody plant invasion of grassland , 2006 .

[67]  T. Sauer,et al.  Soil carbon and tree litter dynamics in a red cedar–scotch pine shelterbelt , 2007, Agroforestry Systems.

[68]  Thomas R. Fox,et al.  Sustained productivity in intensively managed forest plantations , 2000 .

[69]  K. Paustian,et al.  Soil organic carbon pool changes following land‐use conversions , 2004 .

[70]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  Ecosystem carbon loss with woody plant invasion of grasslands , 2002, Nature.

[71]  J. Blair,et al.  Woody Plant Encroachment by Juniperus virginiana in a Mesic Native Grassland Promotes Rapid Carbon and Nitrogen Accrual , 2008, Ecosystems.

[72]  Gu Lb,et al.  Soil carbon stocks and land use change : a meta analysis , 2022 .

[73]  H. E. Garrett,et al.  Hardwood silvopasture management in North America , 2004, Agroforestry Systems.

[74]  J. Burger,et al.  Carbon sequestration by forests and soils on mined land in the Midwestern and Appalachian coalfields of the U.S. , 2008 .

[75]  D. Manning,et al.  Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property , 2011, Nature.

[76]  Johan Six,et al.  Interpretation of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in Agricultural and Afforested Soils , 2003 .

[77]  W. M. Post,et al.  Soil carbon sequestration and land‐use change: processes and potential , 2000 .

[78]  S. Trumbore,et al.  Rapid accumulation and turnover of soil carbon in a re-establishing forest , 1999, Nature.

[79]  P. Bird Tree windbreaks and shelter benefits to pasture in temperate grazing systems , 1998, Agroforestry Systems.

[80]  Dean C. Adams,et al.  RESAMPLING TESTS FOR META‐ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL DATA , 1997 .

[81]  R. B. Jackson,et al.  A global meta-analysis of soil exchangeable cations, pH, carbon, and nitrogen with afforestation. , 2009, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[82]  J. Compton,et al.  LONG‐TERM IMPACTS OF AGRICULTURE ON SOIL CARBON AND NITROGEN IN NEW ENGLAND FORESTS , 2000 .