Mr Giovanni Di Matteo, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy. Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19), 15 - 17 May 2019 at FAO HQ.

1. Title
Author(s) and affiliation(s)
Soil carbon storage in Mediterranean
forest stands: implications in the
restoration of eroded soils
Giovanni Di Matteo, Gabriella Rossi
Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Agriculture and
Environment, Rome, Italy; giovanni.dimatteo@crea.gov.it, gabriella.rossi@crea.gov.it
 We found high SOC values, typical of
forest stands;
 No risk of soil alteration due to erosive
processes in the case studies;
 Differences in SOC values among sites
are due to the type of vegetation, site
conditions and the effects of the
different agro-forest management;
 Afforestation plans could be a valid tool
for restoring degraded soils, recovering
soil organic matter and nutrients and
preventing soil erosion;
 The considered different agro-forest
managements of this study could be
applied in afforested areas without
negative effects, in the long time, on
SOC.
CONCLUSIONS
OBJECTIVE
This study aims to compare the capacity of some
forest soils subjected to different land use in
storing atmospheric CO2 in SOC
The study rationale is to use the information from
these case studies to highlight the risk in the long
time of soil erosion due to a reduction of SOC
Table 1. Summary of the agro-forest managements carried out
in the six agro-forest sites
Soil sampling was carried out by taken
cylindrical soil cores (10 soil sample per
site) sized diameter 8 cm, length 15 cm,
and core volume 750 cm3 to get soil bulk
density and consequently soil mass was
determined by soil weight-to-sampling
volume ratio. Fifteen-centimeter topsoil
samples were sieved to 2 mm to separate
out root component. A solution of 10%
hydrochloric acid (HCl) was used to
eliminate carbonates from soil samples.
Total soil organic carbon (TOC%) was
measured by an Elemental Analyzer
(Thermo Fisher Scientific, model FlashEA
1112 NC Analyzers, Bath, UK). Soil carbon
content (SOC) was calculated by
multiplying soil mass to total organic
carbon concentration.
Figure 1. Sampling of soil cores at the
PP forest site
 Soil organic carbon stock (SOC) maintains soil physical and
biochemical quality;
 Soils with degraded structure are often subject to loss of organic
carbon;
 Improper management practices in agricultural and forest areas can
lead to changes in SOC and cause, in the long time, erosion
phenomena;
 SOC in eroded topsoils was lower than in less disturbed grassland,
cultivated and forest soils;
 Forest environment protects the soil from erosive phenomena due to
mechanical actions and for its high concentration of SOC compared
to other land use scenarios
 Afforestation of degraded land can reverse some degradation
processes through the storage of carbon in soil and phytomass.
Site TOC (%) SOC (Mg C ha-1)
CA 4.22 82.29
PP 4.65 90.67
MF 12.10 217.80
MV 6.40 115.20
TM 9.50 185.25
NPA 6.40 115.20
METHODOLOGY
We compared soil C storage values in six
Mediterranean forest soils subjected to different
agro-forest managements in central Italy (Table
1).
Site Species Management
CA Quercus cerris L. abandoned coppice after
coppicing
PP Quercus cerris L. abandoned coppice after
coppicing
MF Fagus sylvatica L. unperturbed
MV Quercus cerris L. unperturbed
TM Fagus sylvatica L. coppiced and pastored
NPA Quercus spp. touristic use
Table 2. Total soil organic carbon and soil carbon content
values
RESULTS
The results showed that SOC values
ranging from 82.3 to 217.8 Mg C ha-1
(Table 2). The differences showed in MF
and MV (unperturbed sites) are probably
due to both the type of vegetation cover
and species that could influence the
chemical characteristics of the litter and
soil itself. CA and PP sites (abandoned oak
coppices) showed lower SOC values
compared to the rest of sites. Intra-
differences between CA and PP in SOC
values are due to age and soil fertility. In
TM site (coppiced and pastored), the SOC
value was probably influenced by the high
input rates of fresh substrate (leaves and
cattle manure). NPA site (touristic use)
showed intermediate SOC value. It is a site
subjected to a constant anthropic
disturbance, this could lead to a greater
compaction of the soil.