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| The effect of UK land-use change on soil carbon and greenhouse gas balance with and without the addition of biochar | ||||||||||||
It is well established that the organic matter content and hence carbon storage of surface soil is higher under woodland and perennial grassland than in annually sown cereal fields. Switching arable land to coppiced trees (willow) or elephant grass (Miscanthus) for energy production may mitigate CO2 by building soil organic matter1,2 as well as substituting fossil fuel. The effect of grassland conversion is less certain and the reversal of any short-term loss could take years. Impacts on CH¬4 and N2O emission must also be considered. Pyrolysis (thermal decomposition) of biomass produces biochar alongside energy and is projected to abate more CO2 emission than simple combustion3. Biochar is highly stable in soil and instantaneously and possibly permanently increases soil carbon storage4. Under some circumstances and timescales biochar may increase or decrease the rate of cycling of other soil carbon. In addition it may temporarily or permanently mitigate trace gas emission. For more information see http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate/PhD/?RG=%#projectlist Funding Notes Funding is confirmed for this project. Please apply before the end of April 2010 1Hansen EM, Christensen BBT, Jensen LS, Kristensen K. 2004. Carbon sequestration in soil beneath long-term Miscanthus plantations as determined by 13C abundance. Biomass and Bioenergy 26, 97–105; 2Schneckenberger K, Kuzyakov Y. 2007. Carbon sequestration under Miscanthus in sandy and loamy soils estimated by natural 13C abundance. Journal of Plant and Soil Nutrition, 170, 538–542; 3Roberts KG, Gloy BA, Joseph S, Scott NR, Lehmann J. 2009. Life cycle assessment of biochar systems: Estimating the energetic, economic, and climate change potential. Environmental Science and Technology 44, 827–833; 4Lehmann K, Skjemstad J, Sohi SP, Carter J, Barson M, Falloon P, Coleman K, Woodbury P, Krull E. Australian climate–carbon cycle feedback reduced by soil black carbon. Nature Geoscience 1, 832–835; 5SP Sohi, HC Yates, JL Gaunt. 2010. Testing a practical indicator for changing soil organic matter. Soil Use and Management, doi: 10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00261.x |
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