Counterfactual scenarios reveal historical impact of cropland management on soil organic carbon stocks in the United States.

ABSTRACT: Natural climate solutions provide opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the United States is among a growing number of countries promoting storage of carbon in agricultural soils as part of the climate solution. Historical patterns of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes provide context about mitigation potential. Therefore, our objective was to quantify the influence of climate-smart soil practices on SOC stock changes in the top 30 cm of mineral soils for croplands in the United States using the DayCent Ecosystem Model. We estimated that SOC stocks increased annually in US croplands from 1995 to 2015, with the largest increase in 1996 of 16.6 Mt C (95% confidence interval ranging from 6.1 to 28.2 Mt CO₂ eq.) and the lowest increase in 2015 of 10.6 Mt C (95% c

SUBMITTER: Ogle SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10477333 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature