Do grasslands act as a perpetual sink for carbon?
1Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, ClimateXChange and Scottish Food Security Alliance-Crops, University of Aberdeen, 23 St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK.
Global Change Biology
|March 8, 2014
Summary
Grasslands are not perpetual carbon sinks. Observed carbon uptake is likely due to past land management, not continuous grassland presence. Maintaining soil carbon stocks is crucial.
Area of Science:
- Soil Science
- Ecology
- Climate Science
Background:
- Grasslands are widely considered perpetual carbon sinks.
- Maintaining grasslands is often proposed as a strategy for carbon sequestration.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the evidence for grasslands acting as perpetual carbon sinks.
- To identify the drivers of observed carbon sequestration in grasslands.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of repeated soil surveys.
- Review of long-term grassland experiments.
- Examination of mass balance calculations.
Main Results:
- Evidence does not support grasslands as perpetual carbon sinks.
- Observed short-term carbon sinks are likely legacy effects of prior land use.
- Judicious management can enhance grassland carbon sink capacity.
Conclusions:
- Grasslands do not inherently function as perpetual carbon sinks.
- Past land management significantly influences current carbon sequestration.
- Protecting existing soil carbon stocks in grasslands is a key management goal.
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