Soil organic carbon stocks and quality in small-scale tropical, sub-humid and semi-arid watersheds under shrubland and dry deciduous forest in southwestern India

Articles

21 December 2021

Soil organic carbon stocks and quality in small-scale tropical, sub-humid and semi-arid watersheds under shrubland and dry deciduous forest in southwestern India. Soil organic carbon is regulated by a dynamic interaction between vegetation inputs, organic matter degradation, and stabilization processes in soils, and its redistribution in the landscape. Many processes of the soil carbon cycle are yet to be fully understood in the tropics. In this study carried in both the Mule Hole and the Maddur M-TROPICS critical zone observatories in India, the authors studied soil organic carbon stocks and quality. The study provides new data and insights into the local-scale drivers of soil organic carbon quantity and quality of tropical, sub-humid and semi-arid watersheds under shrubland and dry deciduous forest with varying geology and soil types.

The paper was published in Geoderma.

More news

Reuse of bottom sediment from reservoirs to cropland is a promising agroecological practice that must be rationalized

In semi-arid areas, intermittent streams are often equipped with small reservoirs to store water for irrigation and/or groundwater recharge, and to capture sediments lost through erosion. These reservoirs must be periodically desilted to maintain their storage capacity. While bottom sediments are generally considered waste, their reuse in agricultural fields is a centuries-old practice in India. […]

Soil erosion control in tree plantations on steep slopes: Runoff water andsediment trapping efficiency of riparian grass buffer in mountainoushumid tropics

Riparian grass buffers reduce the velocity of water flowing over the soil surface during storms, capturing surface runoff (SR) and trapping soil particles eroded from cultivated slopes. Rarely quantified under steep slope conditions (>45 %), this phenomenon probably occurs in many mountain agroecosystems in the humid tropics. In Southeast Asia, teak plantations are often established on […]

Village settlements in mountainous tropical areas, hotspots of fecal contamination as evidenced by Escherichia coli and stanol concentrations in storm water pulses

Little is known about the contribution of villages to the fecal contamination of surface water in tropical rural areas. This study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, documents E. coli and stanol concentration levels in surface runoff, and tracks the origin of the fecal contamination during flood events.

Search