Gaitan, Juan J., Maestre, Fernando T. ORCID: 0000-0002-7434-4856, Bran, Donaldo E., Buono, Gustavo G., Dougill, Andrew J., Garcia Martinez, Guillermo, Ferrante, Daniela, Guuroh, Reginald T., Linstaedter, Anja, Massara, Virginia, Thomas, Andrew D. and Oliva, Gabriel E. (2019). Biotic and Abiotic Drivers of Topsoil Organic Carbon Concentration in Drylands Have Similar Effects at Regional and Global Scales. Ecosystems, 22 (7). S. 1445 - 1457. NEW YORK: SPRINGER. ISSN 1435-0629

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Abstract

Drylands contain 25% of the world's soil organic carbon (SOC), which is controlled by many factors, both abiotic and biotic. Thus, understanding how these factors control SOC concentration can help to design more sustainable land-use practices in drylands aiming to foster and preserve SOC storage, something particularly important to fight ongoing global warming. We use two independent, large-scale databases with contrasting geographic coverage (236 sites in global drylands and 185 sites in Patagonia, Argentina) to evaluate the relative importance of abiotic (precipitation, temperature and soil texture) and biotic (primary productivity) factors as drivers of SOC concentration in drylands at global and regional scales. We found that biotic and abiotic factors had similar effects on SOC concentration across regional and global scales: Maximum temperature and sand content had negative effects, while precipitation and plant productivity exerted positive effects. Our findings provide empirical evidence that increases in temperature and reductions in rainfall, as forecasted by climatic models in many drylands worldwide, promote declines in SOC both directly and indirectly via the reduction in plant productivity. This has important implications for the conservation of drylands under climate change; land management should seek to enhance plant productivity as a tool to offset the negative impact of climate change on SOC storage and on associated ecosystem services.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Gaitan, Juan J.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Maestre, Fernando T.UNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0002-7434-4856UNSPECIFIED
Bran, Donaldo E.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Buono, Gustavo G.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Dougill, Andrew J.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Garcia Martinez, GuillermoUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Ferrante, DanielaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Guuroh, Reginald T.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Linstaedter, AnjaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Massara, VirginiaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Thomas, Andrew D.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Oliva, Gabriel E.UNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-129728
DOI: 10.1007/s10021-019-00348-y
Journal or Publication Title: Ecosystems
Volume: 22
Number: 7
Page Range: S. 1445 - 1457
Date: 2019
Publisher: SPRINGER
Place of Publication: NEW YORK
ISSN: 1435-0629
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
CENTRAL GRASSLAND REGION; SOIL RESPIRATION; CLIMATE-CHANGE; LITTER DECOMPOSITION; USE EFFICIENCY; GREAT-PLAINS; MATTER; RESPONSES; TEXTURE; STORAGEMultiple languages
EcologyMultiple languages
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/12972

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