RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Faster carbon accumulation in global forest soils
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 149393
DO 10.1101/149393
A1 Weixin Zhang
A1 Yuanqi Chen
A1 Leilei Shi
A1 Xiaoli Wang
A1 Yongwen Liu
A1 Xingquan Rao
A1 Yongbiao Lin
A1 Yuanhu Shao
A1 Xiaobo Li
A1 Shengjie Liu
A1 Shilong Piao
A1 Weixing Zhu
A1 Xiaoming Zou
A1 Shenglei Fu
YR 2017
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/13/149393.abstract
AB Comparing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks across space and time is a fundamental issue in global ecology. However, the conventional approach fails to determine SOC stock in an equivalent volume of mineral-soil, and therefore, SOC stock changes can be under- or overestimates if soils swell or shrink during forest development or degradation. Here, we propose to estimate SOC stock as the product of mineral-soil mass in an equivalent mineral-soil volume and SOC concentration expressed as g C Kg-1 mineral-soil. This method enables researchers to compare SOC stocks across space and time. Our results show an unaccounted SOC accumulation of 2.4 - 10.1 g C m-2 year-1 in the 1m surface mineral-soils in global forests. This unaccounted SOC amounts to an additional C sink of 0.12 – 0.25 Pg C year-1, which equals 30 – 62% of the previously estimated annual SOC accumulation in global forests. This finding suggests that forest soils are stronger C sinks than previously recognized.