TropSOC – Tropical soil organic carbon dynamics along erosional disturbance gradients in relation to soil geochemistry and land use
Abstract
The response of soils to disturbance by erosion is one of the great uncertainties in predicting greenhouse gas fluxes from soils to the atmosphere and, hence, future earth system dynamics. This is largely due to a lack of data in remote areas, such as tropical Africa, but also due to an inadequate transfer of knowledge from smaller to larger scales. Tropical Africa is a hotspot of both climate and land use change. The region faces growing population, deforestation of primary forests and degradation of soils due to erosion. Hence, tropical Africa is expected to experience important changes to both soil biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem level carbon (C) fluxes between soil, plants and the atmosphere in this century. In particular, it is unclear how C dynamics differ in the Tropics compared to temperate climate zones, from which most of our mechanistic process understanding on C cycling is derived. It is important to fill this knowledge gap since tropical ecosystems provide services with global importance, such as C storage in plants and soils, soil fertility, plant productivity and ultimately food supply. The main objective of the proposed TROPSOC project is to develop a mechanistic understanding of C sequestration and release in the soils of Tropical Africa, studied in the Eastern part of the Congo Basin. This region provides a unique combination of (i) geologically diverse parent material for soil formation and (ii) different levels of disturbance by human activity, taking place under a humid, tropical climate regime, where pristine forests are converted into agricultural land at high rates. TROPSOC will make a significant contribution to answering the following questions: 1. How will nutrient fluxes and C allocation between soils, plants and the atmosphere evolve and differ in tropical systems in relation to the controlling factors: mineralogy, topography and vegetation? 2. How does geochemistry control, interact with or mediate the severity of erosional disturbance on C cycling in the critical zone of tropical soils? 3. How can we model the mechanisms controlling tropical soil C dynamics in a spatially explicit way? TROPSOC will make a significant contribution to improving our understanding of the factors that give rise to the spatial distribution and fate of C of tropical soil systems. By the end of the project, we will have a better understanding of the factors that give rise to the spatial distribution and fate of carbon in tropical soils. We will have produced benchmark data products and modeling tools that will help to bridge the gap between plot scale process understanding and large scale modeling of tropical C cycling. This will ultimately help to reduce the uncertainty associated with terrestrial C fluxes and the response of soils to disturbance, which is one of the greatest uncertainties in current Earth System Models and ecosystem service assessments. At BOKU, we will predominantly focus on standing biomass and root turnover of roots in the (disturbed) ecosystems.
keywords Tropical ecosystem Land use change Soil carbon cycle Nutrient cycle Erosion
Publikationen
Organic matter cycling along geochemical, geomorphic, and disturbance gradients in forest and cropland of the African Tropics - project TropSOC database version 1.0
Autoren: Doetterl, S; Asifiwe, RK; Baert, G; Bamba, F; Bauters, M; Boeckx, P; Bukombe, B; Cadisch, G; Cooper, M; Cizungu, LN; Hoyt, A; Kabaseke, C; Kalbitz, K; Kidinda, L; Maier, A; Mainka, M; Mayrock, J; Muhindo, D; Mujinya, BB; Mukotanyi, SM; Nabahungu, L; Reichenbach, M; Rewald, B; Six, J; Stegmann, A; Summerauer, L; Unseld, R; Vanlauwe, B; Van Oost, K; Verheyen, K; Vogel, C; Wilken, F; Fiener, P Jahr: 2021
Journal articles
Soil geochemistry as a major driver of carbon allocation, stocks and dynamics in vegetation and soils of African tropical forests
Autoren: Doetterl, S; Bukombe, B; Bauters, M; Boeckx, P; Cizungu, L; Cooper, M; Fiener, P; Kidinda, L; Makelele, I; Muhindo, D; Rewald, B; and Verheyen, K Jahr: 2022
Conference & Workshop proceedings, paper, abstract
Soil geochemistry - and not topography - as a major driver of carbon allocation, stocks, and dynamics in forests and soils of African tropical montane ecosystems.
Autoren: Bukombe, B; Bauters, M; Boeckx, P; Cizungu, LN; Cooper, M; Fiener, P; Kidinda, LK; Makelele, I; Muhindo, DI; Rewald, B; Verheyen, K; Doetterl, S; Jahr: 2022
Journal articles
Project staff
Boris Rewald
Assoc. Prof. Dipl.-Biol. Dr.rer.nat. Boris Rewald
boris.rewald@boku.ac.at
BOKU Project Leader
01.03.2018 - 30.09.2022
Hans Sanden
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Hans Sanden
hans.sanden@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-91240
Project Staff
01.03.2018 - 30.09.2022
BOKU partners
External partners
Augsburg University
Dr. Sebastian Dötterl
partner