Opportunities to increase soil carbon sequestration in grazing lands in the southeastern United States
Maria L. Silveira , Priscila Junia Rodrigues da Cruz , Joao Mauricio Bueno Vendramini , Elizabeth Boughton , Rosvel Bracho , Abmael da Silva Cardoso
Grassland Research ›› 2024, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (1) : 69 -78.
Opportunities to increase soil carbon sequestration in grazing lands in the southeastern United States
Background: Grazing lands provide numerous ecosystem services, including the capacity to store large amounts of soil carbon (C); however, our understanding of the factors affecting soil C responses to management is inadequate.
Methods: In this paper, we synthesized information about the impacts of grazing land management on soil C within the southeastern region of the United States.
Results: Most studies (68%) demonstrated that proper management increased soil C stocks with an average C accumulation rate of 1.4 Mg C ha−1 year−1. The remaining (32%) studies showed no effect of management on soil C. None of the studies reported negative impacts of management on soil C. The largest increase in soil C (8Mg C ha−1 year−1) was associated with the conversion of cropland to pastureland while overseeding legumes into grass pastures resulted in the lowest C sequestration rates (0.2 Mg C ha−1 year−1).
Conclusions: Considering the rates of soil C accretion and the extensive area occupied by grazing lands, data in this synthesis confirm that the adoption of improved management practices can increase soil C sequestration in the southeastern United States. In addition, because most improved management practices can also have co-benefits, they may be favorable for forage and livestock production and other ecosystem services.
grazing / management / pasture / soil carbon
2024 The Authors. Grassland Research published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Chinese Grassland Society and Lanzhou University.
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