We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
THE IMPACT OF CROPPING ON PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN THE U.S. GREAT PLAINS.
- Authors
Bradford, John B.; Lauenroth, William K.; Burke, Ingrid C.
- Abstract
Land use and altered carbon dynamics are two of the primary components of global change, and the effect of land use on carbon cycling is a crucial issue in regional scale biogeochemistry. Previous studies have shown that climate and soil conditions control net primary production (NPP) at regional scales, and that agricultural land use can influence NPP at local scales through altered water availability and carbon allocation patterns. However, few studies have attempted to quantify the effect of cultivation on NPP at regional scales, and no studies have examined this relationship for the most heavily cultivated region of the United States, the Great Plains. We quantified current regional aboveground and belowground productivity (including cultivation) for nine years on a county basis from (1) USDA agricultural census data, and (2) STATSGO range site production values. By comparing these data with values of native vegetation NPP (recultivation) derived from STATSGO, we estimated that cultivation is increasing regional NPP by ∼10%, or 0.046 Pg C/yr. In addition, we examined the relationship between cultivation of particular crops and NPP change and characterized the influence of individual crops on primary productivity.
- Subjects
GREAT Plains; UNITED States; AGRICULTURE; LAND use; GLOBAL environmental change; CARBON cycle
- Publication
Ecology, 2005, Vol 86, Issue 7, p1863
- ISSN
0012-9658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1890/04-0493