Grassland soil carbon sequestration: Current understanding, challenges, and solutions
Abstract
Grasslands store approximately one third of the global terrestrial carbon stocks and can act as an important soil carbon sink. Recent studies show that plant diversity increases soil organic carbon (SOC) storage by elevating carbon inputs to belowground biomass and promoting microbial necromass contribution to SOC storage. Climate change affects grassland SOC storage by modifying the processes of plant carbon inputs and microbial catabolism and anabolism. Improved grazing management and biodiversity restoration can provide low-cost and/or high-carbon-gain options for natural climate solutions in global grasslands. The achievable SOC sequestration potential in global grasslands is 2.3 to 7.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year (CO2e year−1) for biodiversity restoration, 148 to 699 megatons of CO2e year−1 for improved grazing management, and 147 megatons of CO2e year−1 for sown legumes in pasturelands.
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Volume 377 | Issue 6606
5 August 2022
5 August 2022
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Copyright © 2022 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.
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Received: 13 April 2022
Accepted: 15 June 2022
Published in print: 5 August 2022
Acknowledgments
We thank S. P. Chen, J. Q. Tian, Y. J. Zhao, S. X. Zheng, Y. Wang, X. M. Lu, B. Tang, J. Man, and J. S. Su for discussion on the topic of grassland carbon sequestration.
Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 32192464) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA23080000).
Author contributions: Y.F.B. conceived the concept, structure, and writing of the manuscript. M.F.C. contributed to the development of ideas and writing of the manuscript.
Competing interests: M.F.C. provides consulting services for C quester Analytics. Services are provided to a number of companies invested in soil carbon sequestration, including by the adoption of regenerative grazing management. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
License information: Copyright © 2022 the authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original US government works. https://www.science.org/about/science-licenses-journal-article-reuse
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National Natural Science Foundation of China: XDA23080000
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