Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Depth Profile of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Accumulation over Two Decades in a Prairie Restoration Experiment

  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Prairies converted from agriculture are known to accumulate carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) and are an important contribution to terrestrial C sequestration. However, estimates of decadal accumulation rates of C and N and their vertical distribution in the soil profile are highly variable among studies, in part due to the lack of repeated inventories of soil C and N stocks over long time periods. We determined the depth profile of soil C and N accumulation and bulk density following the transition from agriculture to planted prairie. Using 13 contiguous plantings with similar land-use histories, planted sequentially from 1995 to 2007, we sampled soil C, N, and bulk density three times over the course of two decades (2000, 2010, and 2019), combining a chronosequence approach with repeated inventories through time. In the top 20 cm of the profile, we found consistent accumulation of C and N, corresponding to 58% (0–10 cm) and 29% (10–20 cm) increases in soil C concentrations and 3.18% (0–10 cm) and 2.7% (10–20 cm) increases in soil N concentration over 19 years. In contrast, we found no change in C or N concentrations at 20–65 cm depth. A chronosequence approach did not detect C or N accumulation in any single sample year. Rather, initial soil C and N content appeared to be the best predictor of final concentrations. Our results suggest that the majority of C and N accumulation is occurring in the top portion of the profile and that restored prairies continue to sequester C two decades after initial planting.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Auerswald K, Fiener P. 2019. Soil organic carbon storage following conversion from cropland to grassland on sites differing in soil drainage and erosion history. Sci Total Environ 661:481–91.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bach EM, Baer SG, Meyer CK, Six J. 2010. Soil texture affects soil microbial and structural recovery during grassland restoration. Soil Biol Biochem 42:2182–91.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baer SG, Kitchen DJ, Blair JM, Rice CW. 2002. Changes in ecosystem structure and function along a chronosequence of restored grasslands. Ecol Appl 12:1688–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baer SG, Meyer CK, Bach EM, Klopf RP, Six J. 2010. Contrasting ecosystem recovery on two soil textures: implications for carbon mitigation and grassland conservation. Ecosphere 1:5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bell LW, Sparling B, Tenuta M, Entz MH. 2012. Soil profile carbon and nutrient stocks under long-term conventional and organic crop and alfalfa-crop rotations and re-established grassland. Agr Ecosyst Environ 158:156–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bugeja SM, Castellano MJ. 2018. Physicochemical organic matter stabilization across a restored grassland chronosequence. Soil Sci Soc Am J 82:1559–67.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cahill KN, Kucharik CJ, Foley JA. 2009. Prairie restoration and carbon sequestration: difficulties quantifying C sources and sinks using a biometric approach. Ecol Appl 19:2185–201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Camill P, McKone M, Sturges S, Severud W, Ellis E, Limmer J, Martin C, Navratil R, Purdie A, Sandel B, Talukder S, Trout A. 2004. Community- and ecosystem-level changes in species-rich tallgrass prairie restoration. Ecol Appl 14:1680–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers A, Lal R, Paustian K. 2016. Soil carbon sequestration potential of US croplands and grasslands: implementing the 4 per thousand initiative. J Soil Water Conserv 71:68a–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conant RT, Cerri CEP, Osborne BB, Paustian K. 2017. Grassland management impacts on soil carbon stocks: a new synthesis. Ecol Appl 27:662–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson E, Ackerman I. 1993. Changes in soil carbon inventories following cultivation of previously untilled soils. Biogeochemistry 20:161–93.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeLuca TH, Zabinski CA. 2011. Prairie ecosystems and the carbon problem. Front Ecol Environ 9:407–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deng L, Shangguan ZP, Sweeney S. 2013. Changes in soil carbon and nitrogen following land abandonment of farmland on the Loess Plateau, China. Plos One 8:e71923.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Deng L, Wang G-l, Liu G-b, Shangguan Z-p. 2016. Effects of age and land-use changes on soil carbon and nitrogen sequestrations following cropland abandonment on the Loess Plateau, China. Ecol Eng 90:105–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Don A, Scholten T, Schulze ED. 2009. Conversion of cropland into grassland: implications for soil organic-carbon stocks in two soils with different texture. J Plant Nutr Soil Sci 172:53–62.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Don A, Schulze E-D. 2008. Controls on fluxes and export of dissolved organic carbon in grasslands with contrasting soil types. Biogeochemistry 91:117–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan J, McConkey B, Wang H, Janzen H. 2016. Root distribution by depth for temperate agricultural crops. Field Crops Res 189:68–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fargione JE, Bassett S, Boucher T, Bridgham SD, Conant RT, Cook-Patton SC, Ellis PW, Falcucci A, Fourqurean JW, Gopalakrishna T, Gu H, Henderson B, Hurteau MD, Kroeger KD, Kroeger T, Lark TJ, Leavitt SM, Lomax G, McDonald RI, Megonigal JP, Miteva DA, Richardson CJ, Sanderman J, Shoch D, Spawn SA, Veldman JW, Williams CA, Woodbury PB, Zganjar C, Baranski M, Elias P, Houghton RA, Landis E, McGlynn E, Schlesinger WH, Siikamaki JV, Sutton-Grier AE, Griscom BW. 2018. Natural climate solutions for the United States. Sci Adv 4:eaat1869.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford RM, Roderick ML. 2003. Soil carbon stocks and bulk density: spatial or cumulative mass coordinates as a basis of expression? Glob Change Biol 9:1507–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guo LB, Gifford RM. 2002. Soil carbon stocks and land use change: a meta analysis. Glob Change Biol 8:345–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guzman JG, Al-Kaisi MM. 2010. Soil carbon dynamics and carbon budget of newly reconstructed tall-grass prairies in south central iowa. J Environ Qual 39:136–46.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hernández D, Esch E, Alster C, McKone M, Camill P. 2013. Rapid accumulation of soil carbon and nitrogen in a prairie restoration chronosequence. Soil Sci Soc Am J 77:2029–38.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jobbágy EG, Jackson RB. 2000. The vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and its relation to climate and vegetation. Ecol Appl 10:423–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klopf RP, Baer SG, Bach EM, Six J. 2017. Restoration and management for plant diversity enhances the rate of belowground ecosystem recovery. Ecol Appl 27:355–62.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knops J, Bradley K. 2009. Soil carbon and nitrogen accumulation and vertical distribution across a 74 year chronosequence. Soil Sci Soc Am J 73:2096–104.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knops JMH, Tilman D. 2000. Dynamics of soil nitrogen and carbon accumulation for 61 years after agricultural abandonment. Ecology 81:88–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopittke PM, Dalal RC, Finn D, Menzies NW. 2017. Global changes in soil stocks of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur as influenced by long-term agricultural production. Glob Change Biol 23:2509–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal R. 2004. Soil carbon sequestration to mitigate climate change. Geoderma 123:1–22.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Larson DL, Ahlering M, Drobney P, Esser R, Larson JL, Viste-Sparkman K. 2018. Developing a framework for evaluating tallgrass prairie reconstruction methods and management. Ecol Restor 36:6–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Hopmans JW, Rolston DE, Baer SG, Six J. 2009. Determining soil carbon stock changes: simple bulk density corrections fail. Agr Ecosyst Environ 134:251–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leifeld J, Ammann C, Neftel A, Fuhrer J. 2011. A comparison of repeated soil inventory and carbon flux budget to detect soil carbon stock changes after conversion from cropland to grasslands. Glob Change Biol 17:3366–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matamala R, Jastrow JD, Miller RM, Garten CT. 2008. Temporal changes in C and N stocks of restored prairie: implications for C sequestration strategies. Ecol Appl 18:1470–88.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller KE, Tilman D, Fornara DA, Hobbie SE. 2013. Root depth distribution and the diversity–productivity relationship in a long-term grassland experiment. Ecology 94:787–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy CA, Foster BL, Ramspott ME, Price KP. 2004. Grassland management effects on soil bulk density. Trans Kansas Acad Sci 107:45–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newbold C, Knapp B, Pile L. 2019. Are we close enough? comparing prairie reconstruction chronosequences to remnants following two site preparation methods in Missouri, USA. Restor Ecol 28:358–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien SL, Jastrow JD, Grimley DA, Gonzalez-Meler MA. 2010. Moisture and vegetation controls on decadal-scale accrual of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in restored grasslands. Glob Change Biol 16:2573–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien SL, Jastrow JD, Grimley DA, Gonzalez-Meler MA. 2015. Edaphic controls on soil organic carbon stocks in restored grasslands. Geoderma 251:117–23.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paustian K, Six J, Elliott ET, Hunt HW. 2000. Management options for reducing CO2 emissions from agricultural soils. Biogeochemistry 48:147–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Phillips R, Eken M, West M. 2015. Soil organic carbon beneath croplands and re-established grasslands in the North Dakota Prairie Pothole Region. Environ Manag 55:1191–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poeplau C, Don A, Vesterdal L, Leifeld J, Van Wesemael B, Schumacher J, Gensior A. 2011. Temporal dynamics of soil organic carbon after land-use change in the temperate zone - carbon response functions as a model approach. Glob Change Biol 17:2415–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poeplau C, Don A. 2013. Sensitivity of soil organic carbon stocks and fractions to different land-use changes across Europe. Geoderma 192:189–201.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Post WM, Kwon K. 2008. Soil carbon sequestration and land-use change: processes and potential. Glob Change Biol 6:317–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team. 2019. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org (Accessed 15 Nov. 2019)

  • Rosenzweig ST, Carson MA, Baer SG, Blair JM. 2016. Changes in soil properties, microbial biomass, and fluxes of C and N in soil following post-agricultural grassland restoration. Appl Soil Ecol 100:186–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samson FB, Knopf FL, Ostlie WR. 2004. Great Plains ecosystems: past, present, and future. Wildl Soc Bull 32:6–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sanderman J, Baldock J. 2010. Accounting for soil carbon sequestration in national inventories: A soil scientist’s perspective. Environmental Research Letters 5:1–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schenk HJ, Jackson RB. 2002. Rooting depths, lateral root spreads and below-ground/above-ground allometries of plants in water-limited ecosystems. J Ecol 90:480–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlesinger W, Andrews J. 2000. Soil respiration and the global carbon cycle. Biogeochemistry 48:7–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scott DA, Baer SG, Blair JM. 2017. Recovery and Relative Influence of Root, Microbial, and Structural Properties of Soil on Physically Sequestered Carbon Stocks in Restored Grassland. Soil Science Society of American Jounral 81:50–60.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Six J, Elliott ET, Paustian K. 2000. Soil macroaggregate turnover and microaggregate formation: a mechanism for C sequestration under no-tillage agriculture. Soil Biol Biochem 32:2099–103.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sherrod SK, Seastedt TR. 2001. Effects of the northern pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) on alpine soil characteristics, Niwot Ridge, CO. Biogeochemistry 55:195–218.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smetak KM, Johnson-Maynard JL, Lloyd JE. 2007. Earthworm population density and diversity in different-aged urban systems. Appl Soil Ecol 37:161–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith P. 2014. Do grasslands act as a perpetual sink for carbon? Glob Change Biol 20:2708–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soil Survey Staff, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Web Soil Survey, Rice and Goodhue counties. Accessed August 24, 2020.

  • Soussana J-F, Lemaire G. 2014. Coupling carbon and nitrogen cycles for environmentally sustainable intensification of grasslands and crop-livestock systems. Agr Ecosyst Environ 190:9–17.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinbeiss S, Temperton V, Gleixner G. 2008. Mechanisms of soil carbon storage in experimental grasslands. Soil Biol Biochem 40:2634–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tonitto C, David MB, Drinkwater LE. 2006. Replacing bare fallows with cover crops in fertilizer-intensive cropping systems: A meta-analysis of crop yield and N dynamics. Agr Ecosyst Environ 112:58–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Sallan G, Schulte RPO, Lanigan GJ, Byrne KA, Reidy B, Simó I, Six J, Creamer RE. 2017. Clay illuviation provides a long-term sink for C sequestration in subsoils. Scientific Reports 7:45635–42.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • von Haden AC, Dornbush ME. 2017. Ecosystem carbon pools, fluxes, and balances within mature tallgrass prairie restorations. Restor Ecol 25:549–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ward SE, Smart SM, Quirk H, Tallowin JRB, Mortimer SR, Shiel RS, Wilby A, Bardgett RD. 2016. Legacy effects of grassland management on soil carbon to depth. Glob Change Biol 22:2929–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wardle DA. 1995. Impacts of disturbance on detritus food webs in agro-ecosystems of contrasting tillage and weed management practices. In: Begon M, Fitter AH, Eds. Advances in ecological research. Cambridge: Academic Press. p 105–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • West T, Post W. 2002. Soil organic carbon sequestration rates by tillage and crop rotation: a global data analysis. Soil Sci Soc Am J 66:1930–46.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Whisler KM, Rowe HI, Dukes JS. 2016. Relationships among land use, soil texture, species richness, and soil carbon in Midwestern tallgrass prairie, CRP and crop lands. Agr Ecosyst Environ 216:237–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang Y, Tilman D, Furey G, Lehman C. 2019. Soil carbon sequestration accelerated by restoration of grassland biodiversity. Nat Commun 10:718–25.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Carleton College for funding for this project and for its ongoing commitment to the restoration of prairie in the Cowling Arboretum. Miles Bakke, Nancy Braker, Matt Elbert, and Mark McKone have established and managed these prairie reconstructions over the past 25 y. We also thank Carleton students Marc Donnelley, Ryan Gilbert, Maria Fairchild, Denyse Marquez-Sanchez, Peter Richieri, and Sarah Newsham for their help in the field and laboratory. Mark McKone and Seth Spawn provided helpful reviews of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaitlin Libbey.

Additional information

Author contributions

KL performed research, analyzed data, and wrote the paper; DLH conceived of study, performed research, and wrote the paper.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 477 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Libbey, K., Hernández, D.L. Depth Profile of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Accumulation over Two Decades in a Prairie Restoration Experiment. Ecosystems 24, 1348–1360 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00588-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-020-00588-3

Keywords

Navigation