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- Title
Soil organic carbon along an altitudinal gradient in the Despeñaperros Natural Park, southern Spain.
- Authors
Parras-Alcántara, L.; Lozano-García, B.; Galán-Espejo, A.
- Abstract
Soil organic carbon (SOC) is extremely important in the global carbon (C) cycle as C sequestration in non-disturbed soil ecosystems can be a C sink and mitigate greenhouse-gas-driven climate change. Soil organic carbon changes in space and time are relevant to understand the soil system and its role in the C cycle. This is why the influence of topographic position on SOC should be studied. Seven topographic positions from a toposequence between 607 and 1168 m were analyzed in the Despeñaperros Natural Park (Jaén, SW Spain). Depending on soil depth, one to three control sections (0-25, 25-50 and 75 cm) were sampled at each site. The SOC content in studied soils was below 30 g kg-1 and strongly decreases with depth. These results were related to the gravel content and to the bulk density. The SOC content from the topsoil (0-25 cm) varied largely through the altitudinal gradient ranging between 27.3 and 39.9 g kg-1. The SOC stock (SOCS) varied between 53.8 and 158.0 Mg ha-1 in the studied area, which had been clearly conditioned by the topographic position. Therefore, results suggest that elevation should be included in SOCS models and estimations at local and regional scales.
- Subjects
PARQUE Natural de Despenaperros (Spain); CARBON in soils; CARBON cycle; SOIL topography; SOIL depth; TOPSOIL
- Publication
Solid Earth, 2015, Vol 6, Issue 1, p125
- ISSN
1869-9510
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/se-6-125-2015