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Six feet under. How soil microbial life works to bury atmospheric carbon – and how management can make them sequester more carbon - Rattan Lal
The document discusses the critical role of soil in carbon management and sequestration, highlighting human impacts such as deforestation and land degradation that have led to soil degradation. It emphasizes the importance of maintaining soil health for ecosystem services and climate resilience, and outlines strategies for sustainable soil management. Key themes include the relationship between soil biodiversity, carbon storage, and the overall health of the environment.
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Six feet under. How soil microbial life works to bury atmospheric carbon – and how management can make them sequester more carbon - Rattan Lal
- 1. Six Feet Under RattanLal Carbon Management and Sequestration Center The Ohio State University Columbus, OH 43210 USA
- 2. 2 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Population Energy use Deforestation CO2 Emissions Land Degradation Desertification Water use 8000 BC N 1750 1850 1950 2000 Time HumanImpact The answer lies in soils. Soil Matters
- 3. 3 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Soil is an organic-carbon mediated realm in which solid, liquid, gas and biology all interact from a scale of nanometer to landscape. The Living Soil The weight of live organisms in arable land is 5 t/ha
- 4. 4 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter • A spade of rich garden soil may harbor more species than the entire Amazon nurtures above ground • A teaspoon of productive soil contains 100 million to 1 billion micro-organisms (Dunne 2009) Soil is Life
- 5. 5 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter I = P x A x T P = Population A = Affluence T = Technology Over the last 10,000 years, the number of humans has increased about a thousand-fold from 2- 20 million to 7.3 billion. 1.0 1800 1.3 1850 1.7 1900 1.8 1910 1.9 1920 2.1 1930 2.3 1940 2.5 1950 3.0 1960 3.7 1970 4.4 19805.3 1990 6.1 2000 7.0 2011 7.5 2020 8.1 2030 8.6 2040 9.6 2050 11 2100 The Anthropogenic Driver
- 6. 6 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Causes or Activities Deforestation Land Use Conversion Extractive Farming Inappropriate Irrigation Excessive Plowing Soil, Crop, Animal Management Processes or Mechanisms Erosion Salinization Nutrient Depletion Acidification Species Extinction Factors or Agents Climate Physiography Land forms Socio-economic, Ethnic/Cultural Setting Soil Degradation Anthropogenic & Natural Perturbations Biophysical & Socioeconomic Interactions Climate-Soil-Biotic Interactions Processes, Factors, and Causes of Soil Degradation
- 7. 7 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Resilience of Soil-Ecological Systems It has multiple regimes (stable states) which are separated by thresholds Thresholds Critical Threshold The current state of the system Possible states in which the system can still have the same function Irreversible Degradation Resilience
- 8. 8 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Threshold/Critical Level Threshold/Critical Level/Tipping Point: Soil processes and properties have threshold levels (1.1% SOC concentration in soils of the tropics). Beyond threshold level, there is a drastic regime change.
- 9. 9 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Types of Soil Degradation Anthropogenic Natural Land Misuse & Soil Mismanagement Climate Change & Related Factors Crusting, Sealing Compaction Runoff and Erosion Endangered or Extinct Soil Un-optimal Soil Temperature Inhibited Aeration Desertification Physical Degradati on Acidification Salinization Decline in CEC, Nutrient Depletion Elemental Imbalance Leaching Pollution/ Contaminati on Chemical Degradation Loss of Soil Biodiversity Soil-Borne Pathogens Decline in Soil Organic Matter Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Loss of Soil C Sink Capacity Biological Degradation Decline in Soil Quality DeclineinEcosystemServices ReductioninNatureConservancy Disruption in Nutrient Cycling Perturbations of the Hydrological CycleDecline in Net Biome Productivity Loss of Nutrients & Carbon Decline in Use Efficiency of Inputs Ecological Degradation Inhibited Denaturing of Pollutants Lal (2015)
- 10. 10 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter DeclineinResilienceandQualityof SoilandEnvironment Decline in SOC Pool Reduction in Soil Biodiversity Crusting Compaction Increase in Runoff Accelerated Erosion Loss of Nutrients, C and Water from Ecosystem Degradation of Soil Structure Decline in soil and environment quality, and increase in risks of social unrest and political instability Extractive Farming Indiscriminate plowing Residue removal Negative SOC Budget Negative Nutrient Budget Decrease in Use Efficiency Loss of Soil Resilience Decrease in ecosystem services Lal (2015)
- 11. 11 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter The Gullied Land In West Africa DesperatenessDesperateness Increase in erosion risks between 1980s and 2090:Increase in erosion risks between 1980s and 2090: Africa….+36%Africa….+36% World....+14%World....+14% 15001500 xx 11001515 CC 1.11.1 xx 10101515 g/g/yyrr 5.75.7 xx 10101515 g/g/yyrr CC 3.993.99 xx 10101515 g/g/yyrr 0.570.57 xx 10101515 g/g/yyrr decompositiondecomposition and emission toand emission to the atmospherethe atmosphere Stored within theStored within the terrestrial ecosystemterrestrial ecosystem Displaced due to erosionDisplaced due to erosion TransportedTransported to the oceanto the ocean In world soilIn world soil
- 12. 12 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenterChief Seattle’s Letter to President Washington • We are part of the earth, and it is part of us. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. • The rivers are our brother, they quench our thirst. • The earth does not belong to the man, man belongs to the earth. • How can you buy or sell the sky? The land?
- 13. 13 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Biota 620 Pg Atmosphere 840 Pg +4.0 Pg/yr Soils (3-m) 4,000 Pg Ocean 42,000 Pg + 2.3 Pg/yr (i) Surface layer: 670 Pg (ii) Deep layer: 36,730 Pg (iii) Total organic: 1,000 Pg Fossil Fuels 4,130 Pg (i) Coal: 3,510 Pg (ii) Oil: 230 Pg (iii) Gas: 140 Pg (iv) Other: 250 Pg 90Gt/yr MRT = 5Yr MRT = 25Yr Mean Residence Time (MRT) = 400Yr MRT = 6Yr 92.3Pg/yr The Short-Term Global Carbon Cycle
- 14. 14 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter • Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) = 123 Gt C/yr • Net Primary Productivity (NPP) = 63 Gt C/yr • Net Ecosystem Productivity (NEP) = 10 Gt C/yr • Net Biome Productivity (NBP) = 3 Gt C/yr “If we control what plants do with carbon, the fate of CO2 in the atmosphere is in our hands” -Freman Dyson (2008), BioScience (10/10) Only 0.05% of the 3800 zettajoules (1021 J) of solar energy is absorbed annually as GPP Biosequestration of Atmospheric CO2
- 15. 15 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Strengthening of Elemental and H2O Cycling Soil and Water Conservation Improvements in Rhizospheric Processes Increase in Net Biome Productivity Increase in Soil Biodiversity Earthworm Activity MBC Increase in SOC Pool Improvement in Aggregation Restoration of soil and environment quality, improvement in soil resilience and increase in social and political stability Conversion to CA Residue Retention Cover Cropping INM Tillage Elimination Increase in Use Efficiency of Input Increase in Ecosystem services Lal (2015)
- 16. 16 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Sustainable Agriculture (116-27 BC) Agricultura “est scientia, quae sint in quoque agro serenda ac facienda, quo terra, (that the land) maximos (the highest) perpetetuo (in perpetiuty) reddat fructus” (yields) Marcus Terentius Varro Rerum Rusticarum Ribri III (Agricultural topics in 3 books)
- 17. 17 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” John Muir (Naturalist)
- 18. 18 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Accelerated erosion Innovative Technology II Innovative Technology I Subsistence farming, none or low off-farm input soil degradation New equilibrium Adoption of RMPs Time (Yrs) Lal, 2004 80 100 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 40 60 20 RelativeSoilCPool 0 Maximum Potential Rate ΔY ΔX Attainable Potential CSinkCapacity Δt •NT •INM & NUE •Cover Crops •Biochar •Agroforestry •Desert. Control • Afforestation • Pasture Mgmt •H2O harv., DSI MRT = Pool Flux Soil C Sequestration
- 19. 19 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Sustainable Soil Management • Replace what is removed, • Respond wisely to what is changed, and • Predict what will happen from anthropogenic and natural perturbations •Enhance soil resilience
- 20. 20 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Disease- Suppressive soil High Soil Biodiversity Improved Varieties Complex Rotations Conservation Agriculture System Mulch Cover cropNo-till MycorrhizaeMycorrhizae RhizobiumRhizobium Integrated Nutrient Management
- 21. 21 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Corn with no residue. Corn with 100% residue Drought of 2012 Climate-Resilient Soil
- 22. 22 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter ““Soil biota is the bioengine of the Earth”Soil biota is the bioengine of the Earth” There is no such thing as a free biofuel fromThere is no such thing as a free biofuel from crop residues.crop residues. There is no such thing as a free biofuel fromThere is no such thing as a free biofuel from crop residues.crop residues. Economics of Residue Removal for Biofuel
- 23. 23 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenterProperties of Agroecosystems 1) Productivity : Total output 2) Stability : Consistency of production 3) Equitability : Fair allocation for all inhabitants of Earth 4) Autonomy : Self-sufficiency 5) Sustainability : Forever 6) Efficiency (Eco) : Producing more with less All of these properties depend on soil carbon pool
- 24. 24 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter • Total SOC pool to 2-m depth = 2400 Pg • Increasing SOC pool by 1% = 24 Pg • 1 Pg = 0.47 ppm C sink capacity for every 1% increment ≈ 11 ppm Capacity of Soil Carbon Sink
- 25. 25 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter Sustainable Soil Management 1. Causes of Soil Degradation • The biophysical process of soil degradation is driven by economic, social and political forces. • Vulnerability to degradation depends on “how” rather than “what” is grown. 2. Soil Stewardship & Human Suffering 3. Nutrient, Carbon, & Water Bank 4. Marginality Principle 5. Organic vs. Inorganic Nutrients6. Soil Carbon & GHG Effect 8. Soil as Sink for Atmospheric CO2 7. Soil vs. Germplasm 9. Engine of Economic Development 10. Traditional Knowledge & Modern Innovations • When people are poverty stricken, desperate and starving, they pass on their sufferings to the land. • It is not possible to take more out of a soil than what is put in it without degrading its quality. • Only by replacing what is taken can a soil be kept fertile, productive, and responsive to inputs. • Marginal soils cultivated with marginal inputs produce marginal yields and support marginal living. •Recycling is a good strategy especially when there is something to recycle.
- 26. 26 Carbon Management and SequestrationCenter en.wikipedia.orgwww.worldwildlife.org www.seeturtles.org HANDOUT / Reuters Soil: the Global Icon