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Soil carbon (C) stocks were calculated for Tasmanian soil orders to 0.3 m and 1.0 m depth from existing data sets. Tasmanian soils have carbon stocks of 49 – 117 Mg C/ha in the upper 0.3 m with Ferrosols having the greatest soil C stocks. Mean soil C stocks in agricultural soils were significantly lower under intensive cropping than under irrigated pasture. The range in soil C within soil orders indicates that it is critical to determine initial soil carbon stocks at individual sites and farms for carbon accounting and trading purposes, because the initial soil C content will determine if current or changed management practices are likely to result in soil C sequestration or emission. The distribution of carbon within the profile was significantly different between agricultural and forested land in Tasmania with agricultural soils having two-thirds of their soil C in the upper 0.3 m compared to half in forested soils. The difference in this proportion between agricultural and forested land was greatest in Dermosols (0.72 vs. 0.47). The total amount of soil C in a soil to 1.0 m depth may not change with a change in land use but the distribution can and any change in soil C deeper in the profile might affect how soil C can be managed for sequestration. Tasmanian soil C stocks are significantly greater than those in states on mainland Australia which reflects the lower mean annual temperature in Tasmania that results in less oxidation of soil organic matter.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	carbon stock, soil, organic matter, Tasmania, agriculture, forest, global warming, climate change
Research Division:	Environmental Sciences
Research Group:	Climate change impacts and adaptation
Research Field:	Carbon sequestration science
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Terrestrial systems and management
Objective Field:	Soils
UTAS Author:	Cotching, WE (Dr Bill Cotching)
ID Code:	73073
Year Published:	2012
Web of Science® Times Cited:	13
Deposited By:	Agricultural Science
Deposited On:	2011-09-09
Last Modified:	2013-05-13
Downloads:	0