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Deep soil carbon storage in tree-dominated land use systems in tropical lowlands of Kalimantan

N. Borchard,M. Bulusu,N. Meyer,A. Rodionov,H. Herawati,S. Blagodatsky,G. Cadisch,G. Welp,W. Amelung,C. Martius

Published 2019 in Geoderma

ABSTRACT

Abstract Although carbon (C) stored deep in soils of tree-dominated land use systems in the tropics represents a large reservoir of organic matter its vulnerability to land use change has been hardly assessed. To fill this gap, we sampled Acrisols down to 3 m under three different land use systems; namely, recent cacao agroforestry ( 50 years), and secondary forest (>50 years) all located in Kapuas Hulu regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. We then assessed soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks as well as C accumulated in above- and belowground biomass, litter and dead wood debris at the soil surface. The amount of C stored in soils to a depth of 1 m exceeded the amount stored in living biomass (Σ C stored in roots, understorey and overstorey) strongly in the cacao agroforestry systems (69 Mg SOC vs. 12 Mg biomass-C ha−1), slightly in young rubber gardens (85 Mg SOC vs. 69 Mg C ha−1), but not in old rubber gardens (87 Mg SOC vs. 200 Mg C ha−1) and secondary forests (65 Mg SOC vs. 138 Mg C ha−1). Additionally in the older systems, up to 140 Mg C ha−1 (old rubber gardens) and 116 Mg C ha−1 (secondary forest) were found in soils to a depth of 3 m, thus raising soil C stocks by 60 to 80% relative to C stored in upper soil (0 to 1 m). We conclude that (1) the form of land use and land use change can substantially affect C stocks in living biomass, with aboveground biomass in old rubber gardens comparable to that of secondary forests; and (2) that land use change can reduce SOC in topsoil, but that substantial C stocks found in deep (down to 3 m) subsoil remain stable.

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