• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.91-112
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• 2020

In Ethiopia, dry land vegetation including the fairly intact lowland and western escarpment woodlands occupy the largest vegetation resource of the country. These forests play a central role in environmental regulation and socio-economic assets, yet they received less scientific attention than the moist forests. This study evaluated the woody plant species composition, population structure and carbon sequestration potential of the A. senegal woodland across three distance gradients from the settlements. A total of 45 sample quadrants were laid along a systematically established nine parallel transect lines to collect vegetation and soil data across distance gradients from settlement. Mature tree dry biomass with DBH>2.5 cm was estimated using allometric equations. A total of 41 woody plant species that belong to 20 families were recorded and A. senegal was the dominant species with 56.4 IVI value. Woody plant species diversity, density and richness were significantly higher in the distant plots compared to the nearest plots to settlement (p<0.05). The cumulative DBH class distribution of all individuals had showed an interrupted inverted J-shape population pattern. There were 19 species without seedlings, 15 species without saplings and 14 species without both seedlings and saplings. A significant above ground carbon (5.3 to 12.7 ton ha^-1), root carbon (1.6 to 3.6 ton ha^-1), soil organic carbon (35.6 to 44.5 ton ha^-1), total carbon stock (42.5 to 60.7 ton ha^-1) and total carbon dioxide equivalent (157.7 to 222.8 ton ha^-1) was observed consistently with an increasing of distance from settlement (p<0.05). Distance from settlement had significant and positive correlation with species diversity and carbon stock at 0.64^⁎⁎ and 0.78^⁎⁎. Disturbance intensity may directly influence the variation of species composition, richness and density along the A. senegal woodland. The sustainability of the A. senegal woodland needs urgent protection, conservation and restoration.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.336-344
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• 2017

Background: Because of climate change, interest in the development of carbon pools has increased. In agricultural ecosystems, which can be more intensively managed than forests, measures to control carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) emission and absorption levels can be applied relatively easily. However, crop residues may be released into the atmosphere by decomposition or combustion. If we can develop scientific management techniques that enable these residues to be stocked on farmland, then it would be possible to convert farmlands from carbon emission sources to carbon pools. We analyzed and investigated soil respiration (Rs) rate characteristics according to input of carbonized residue of red peppers (Capsicum annuum L.), a widely grown crop in Korea, as a technique for increasing farmland carbon stock. Results: Rs rate in the carbonized biomass (CB) section was $226.7mg\;CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$, which was 18.1% lower than the $276.9mg\;CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$ from the red pepper residue biomass (RB) section. The Rs rate of the control was $184.1mg\;CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$. In the following year, Rs in the CB section was $204.0mg\;CO_2\;m{-2}h^{-1}$, which was 38.2% lower than the $330.1mg\;CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$ from the RB section; the control emitted $198.6mg\;CO_2\;m^{-2}h^{-1}$. Correlation between Rs and soil temperature ((Ts) at a depth of 5 cm) was $R^2=0.51$ in the RB section, which was higher than the other experimental sections. A comparison of annual decomposition rates between RB and CB showed a large difference, 41.4 and 9.7%, respectively. The results showed that carbonization of red pepper residues reduced the rates of decomposition and Rs. Conclusions: The present study confirmed that the Rs rate can be reduced by carbonization of residue biomass and putting it in the soil and that the Rs rate and Ts (5 cm) were positively correlated. Based on the results, it was determined that approximately $1.2t\;C\;ha^{-1}$ were sequestered in the soil in the first year and $3.0t\;C\;ha^{-1}$ were stored the following year. Therefore, approximately $1.5t\;C\;ha^{-1}year^{-1}$ are expected to be stocked in the soil, making it possible to develop farmlands into carbon pools.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.159-165
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• 2016

BACKGROUND: Carbonized biomass is increasingly used as a tool of soil carbon sequestration. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil carbon storage to application of carbonized biomass derived from pear tree pruning.METHODS AND RESULTS: The carbonized biomass was a mobile pyrolyzer with field scale, which a reactor was operated about 400~500℃ for 5 hours. The treatments were consisted of a control without input of carbonized biomass and two levels of carbonized biomass inputs as 6.06 Mg/ha, C-1 and 12.12 Mg/ha, C-2. It was shown that the soil carbon pools were 49.3 Mg/ha for C-1, 57.8 Mg/ha for C-2 and 40.1 Mg/ha for the control after experimental periods. The contents of accumulated soil carbon pool were significantly (P < 0.001) increased with enhancing the carbonized biomass input amount. The slopes (1.496) of the regression equations are suggested that carbon storage from the soil was increased about 0.1496 Mg/ha with every 100 kg/ha of carbonized biomass input amount.CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that application of carbonized biomass would be increased the soil carbon contents due to a highly stable C-matrix of carbonized biomass. More long-term studies are needed to be proved how long does carbon stay in orchard soils.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.127-137
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• 2017

Cotton is the major fiber crop in Pakistan that accounts for 2% of total national gross domestic product (GDP). After picking of cotton, the dry stalks are major organic waste that has no fate except burning to cook food in villages. Present research focuses use of cotton stalks as feedstock for biochar production, its characterization and effects on soil characteristics. Dry cotton stalks collected from agricultural field of Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan were combusted under anaerobic conditions at $450^{\circ}C$. The physicochemical analysis of biochar and cotton stalks show higher values of % total carbon, phosphorus and potassium concentrations in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The concentration of nitrogen was decreased in biochar. Similarly biochar had greater values of fixed carbon that suggest its role for carbon sequestration and as a soil amendment. The fourier transformation infrared spectroscopic spectra (FTIR) of cotton stalks and biochar exposed more acidic groups in biochar as compared to cotton stalks. The newly developed functional groups in biochar have vital role in increasing surface properties, cation exchange capacity, and water holding capacity, and are responsible for heavy metal remediation in contaminated soil. In a further test, results show increase in the water holding capacity and nutrient retention by a sandy soil amended with biochar. It is concluded that cotton stalks can be effectively used to prepare biochar.

• Journal of Climate Change Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.339-348
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• 2014

Agro-ecosystem plays an important role in the mitigation of atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration through photosynthesis and soil carbon fixation. The perennial crops have capacity of carbon accumulation because they have lived for years in the same position. Carbon dioxide fixation occurs in the fruit orchard by photosynthesis and soil carbon sequestration. The objectives of this review are to introduce the fruit orchard as a carbon dioxide sink and to summarize the methods that measure $CO_2$ flux in the orchard. There are three difference methods (chamber, biomass, and eddy covariance method) to measure $CO_2$ exchanges on sites. However, there is no standard method suitable for fruit cultivation condition in Korea. Thus the standard method have to be developed in order to exactly estimate the carbon accumulation. In foreign studies, the carbon assessments were conducted in apple, peach, olive, grape orchard and so on. On the other hand the estimation of $CO_2$ exchange was carried out for apple and mandarine orchard in Korea. According to these results, fruit orchard is a $CO_2$ sink even though amount of carbon accumulation is smaller than the forest. To introduce certainly fruit orchard as greenhouse gas sink, long-term monitoring and further study have to be conducted under each planting condition.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.97 no.5
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• pp.492-500
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• 2008

Since vegetation significantly influences on soil carbon and nutrient storage, vegetation change has been focused on terrestrial carbon and nutrient cycling studies. In this study we investigated soil carbon and major nutrient capitals at the abandoned fields, which had different vegetation composition: a three year abandoned field ($AGR_3$), two ten years abandoned fields ($PD_{10}$ dominant with Pinus densiflora and Fraxinus rhynchophylla and $PM_{10}$ dominant with Populus maximowiczii), and an over sixty years forest ($FOR_{60}$). which were located at Hongcheon-gun, Kangwon-do, South Korea. Both main effects for organic matter (%) were significant: shallow soil > deep soil and $FOR_{60}=PM_{10}$ > $AGR_3=PD_{10}$. Nitrogen concentrations at $PM_{10}$ were the highest, while the lowest at $PD_{10}$. Available phosphorus concentrations were the highest at $PD_{10}$, which were over 10 times of site $FOR_{60}$ and $AGR_3$ at 0-10 cm soil depth. The average organic matter ($173Mg\;ha^{-1}$) and nitrogen contents ($10Mg\;ha^{-1}$) of $PM_{10}$ and $FOR_{60}$ were higher than those of $AGR_3$ and $PD_{10}$ by 57% and 42%, respectively. The available phosphorus contents above 30 cm mineral soil at $PD_{10}$ ($3.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$) and $PM_{10}$ ($1.3Mg\;ha^{-1}$) were over 120 times and 40 times more than at $FOR_{60}$. Calcium ($3.7Mg\;ha^{-1}$) and magnesium contents ($2.8Mg\;ha^{-1}$) at $FOR_{60}$ were twice or three times higher than at other sites. Organic matter amounts in 0-10 cm and 10-30 em soil had significant positive relationships with nitrogen, calcium, and magnesium contents, but not available phosphorus and potassium contents. This study could not identify the effect of chronological factor and vegetation composition on soil carbon and nutrient capital owing to diverse topography as well as limited study sites. However, this study suggests the accuracy of investigation for regional carbon and nutrient sequestration can be achieved by considering the period of abandoned time on the fields and the land use types. These results may suggest the benefits of forest restoration for soil carbon and nutrient accumulation in marginal agricultural lands in South Korea.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2014

In order to evaluating physiochemical properties of soil under minimum tillage and direct seeding cultivation on dry rice paddy, we conducted to analyze the soil physiochemical characteristics in treatment with 2-year minimum tillage and dry direct seeding (2MT), 3-year minimum tillage and dry direct seeding (3MT), and tillage transplanting cultivation (TT). As results of analyzing soil organic matter (OM) contents with 2 cm soil depth of interval from surface to 30 cm, OM contents with surface soil from 0 to 2MT and 3MT were higher than TT, recorded 34.6, 28.1 and $19.8gkg^{-1}$, respectively. But until 20cm in soil depth, it was not so large on the deviation of OM contents among the 3 treatments comparing with 2cm surface. Beneath 20 cm in soil depths, 2- and 3-year, OM contents in TT were distributed to be lower than 2MT and 3MT. The contents of total nitrogen in 2MT and 3MT were higher than the content in TT across the soil profile. Consequently, though minimum tillage and direct seeding farming is obviously the practice to saving of machinery work and labor, other practices such as continuously input OM should be needed to achieve carbon sequestration goal through minimum tillage and direct seeding on dry paddy.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.457-469
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• 2017

In order to conserve soil functions to the highest degree in development projects, it is necessary to identify and manage specific area (so called soil management area) including soils with good or excellent functions. Therefore, in this work, we conducted a preliminary study how to identify soil management area in environmental impact assessment on development projects. To do this, quantitative evaluation was carried out on two example projects, using InVEST model considering a couple of soil functions, i.e., erosion control and carbon sequestration functions. Then, soil management area was identified through overlay analysis. The methodology developed in this study is able to be used widely for more detailed analysis with high resolution and furthermore overlay anaysis with other assessment items. For more perfect assessment, other soil fuctions needed to be taken into account into our methodology.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.623-640
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• 2013

Soil organic carbon (SOC) of soil series is necessary to calculate soil C sequestration due to IPCC default categorized by climate regions and by soil types. The 3,400 thousand data were downloaded from agricultural soil information system and analyzed to get averages of soil order, soil series, and textual family for the three different soil management practices in Korea. The SOC content was $13.3{\pm}5.38g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddy field, $13.7{\pm}7.19g\;kg^{-1}$ in upland field, and $15.2{\pm}8.22g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soil, respectively. As SOC in orchard was 10% greater than that in upland, orchard must be managed with applying compost. The SOCs of inceptisols, which was largely distributed in Korea, were $13.6{\pm}5.48g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddy field, $14.1{\pm}7.38g\;kg^{-1}$ in upland field, and $15.3{\pm}8.20g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soil, respectively. The SOCs of alfisols were $13.6{\pm}4.96g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddy field, $13.7{\pm}6.99g\;kg^{-1}$ in upland field, and $15.6{\pm}8.59g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soil, respectively. The SOCs of entisols were $11.7{\pm}5.16g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddy field, $12.8{\pm}7.05g\;kg^{-1}$ in upland field, and $13.7{\pm}7.81g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soil, respectively. The SOCs of ultisols were $12.7{\pm}4.79g\;kg^{-1}$ in paddy field, $12.7{\pm}6.22g\;kg^{-1}$ in upland field, and $16.3{\pm}8.49g\;kg^{-1}$ in orchard soil, respectively. The fact that soils containing greater clay content in textual family had also more SOC content revealed that SOC could be also dependent on some soil properties as well as soil order. Because SOC differences among soil series representing same textual family were greater than those among textual family, SOC differences should be mainly affected by management practices such as compost application.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.503-518
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• 2012

Korean type of no-tillage cultivation method which was applied on this study used the ridge and the furrow and constantly recycling them as it was suitable for Korea's weather and farming conditions. This no-tillage cultivation was reported to have little negative impact such as reduction of production (Kwon et al., 1997). In addition, it was found to have a lot of benefits as it requires less agro-materials and energy costs as well as shortened working hours because tillage operation is not needed. (Yang et al., 2012). According to an analysis, no-tillage cultivation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by $344.7kgCO^2$ (58%) in every 10a ($1,000m^2$) compared to ordinary pepper farming technique (Korea averages). Direct-indirect reduction effects from using fertilizer and using less amount of energy were 92% and 44% respectively both of which can be considered very high. Besides the direct effects of no-tillage cultivation, soil management using no-tillage technique raises carbon sequestration effect on soil as time goes on (West & Marland, 2002), that is why the technique is expected to have constant carbon emission reduction effect. For theses reasons, distribution and expansion of Korean type no-tillage cultivation are expected to play a role as major agro-green technologies for achieving our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in agricultural sector.