Climate Change Impacts on Soil Processes and Ecosystem Properties

By Elsevier Science

Climate Change Impacts on Soil Processes and Ecosystem Properties, Volume 35, presents current and emerging soil science research in the areas of soil processes and climate change, while also evaluating future research needs. The book combines the five areas of soil science (microbiology, physics, fertility, pedology and chemistry) to give a comprehensive assessment. This integration of topics is rarely done in a single publication due to the disciplinary nature of the soil science areas. Users will find it to be a comprehensive resource on the topic.

• Provides an analysis of all areas of soil science in the context of climate change impact on soil processes and ecosystem properties
• Presents information that is displayed in an accessible form for practitioners and disciplines outside of soil science
• Contains a concluding section in each chapter which assesses key areas
• Includes a discussion on future research directions

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Oct 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9780444638687

Book preview

Climate Change Impacts on Soil Processes and Ecosystem Properties

Editors

William R. Horwath

Department of Land, Air and Water Resources University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Yakov Kuzyakov

Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems Department of Agricultural Soil Science University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

Table of Contents

Cover image

Title page

Copyright

List of Contributors

Chapter One. Soils, Climate, and Ancient Civilizations

Introduction

The Use of Soils in Archaeology

Studies at Ancient Sites to Understand Soils

Soil Knowledge and Management in Early Civilizations

Effects of Ancient Agriculture on Soils and Societies

Climate Change and Ancient Cultures

Concluding Statements

Chapter Two. Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Interactions: Ecological and Biogeographical Considerations for Climate-Change Research

Introduction

Terrestrial Life as a Stabilizing Climatic Force

Contemporary Systems

Simplifying Complexity at the Soil–Plant–Atmosphere Interface

Gaps in Knowledge

Conservation and Management Opportunities

Final Considerations

Chapter Three. The Potential for Soils to Mitigate Climate Change Through Carbon Sequestration

Introduction

Humanities Reliance and Impact on Soils

Soil Organic Carbon Balance and Management to Sequester Carbon

Animal Manures Sequester Soil Organic Carbon

Potential to Sequester Soil Organic Carbon

Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration to Address Climate Change

Sequestering Soil Organic Carbon Requires N

Atmospheric Composition and Climate Change Impacts on Soil C Sequestration

Research Needs in Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration

Chapter Four. Role of Mineralogy and Climate in the Soil Carbon Cycle

Mineralogy, Weathering, and the Inorganic C Cycle

Climate, Mineral Assemblage, and Soil Organic Carbon Are Intrinsically Linked Through Weathering Processes

Mineral Stabilization of Soil Organic C—Bonding Mechanisms

Mineral Stabilization of Soil Organic C—Field and Lab-Based Evidence

Summary

Chapter Five. Impacts of Climate Change on Soil Microbial Communities and Their Functioning

Introduction

A Short History of Research on Climate Change Impacts on Soil Microbial Communities

How Can We Predict the Effect of Climate Change on Soil Microbial Communities?

Conclusion

Chapter Six. Nitrous Oxide Production From Soils in the Future: Processes, Controls, and Responses to Climate Change

Introduction

Biological Processes that Produce N2O in Soils

Ammonia Oxidation Pathways

Heterotrophic Denitrification

Other Biological Processes

Abiotic N2O Production in Soils

Hydroxylamine Decomposition

Chemodenitrification

Land Management Practices to Control N2O Emission from Soils

Fertilization

Irrigation

Tillage

Cover Crops and Organic Amendments

Climate Change and Soil N2O Production

Conclusions

Chapter Seven. The Response of Forest Ecosystems to Climate Change

Introduction

Global Distribution of Studies on Climate Change and Forest Soils

Changes in Net Primary Productivity of Forest Ecosystems

Sequestration of Carbon in Forest Soils

The Capacity of Forest Soils to Provide Ecosystem Services

Soil Processes in Relation to Soil Texture

Microbial Processes in Forest Soils

Conclusions

Chapter Eight. Effects of Elevated CO2 in the Atmosphere on Soil C and N Turnover

Introduction

Approaches to Investigate Indirect Effects of Elevated CO2 Concentration on Soil Processes

Results and Discussion

Conclusions

Index

Copyright

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List of Contributors

Evgenia Blagodatskaya,     Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göettingen, Göettingen, Germany

Eric C. Brevik,     Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, United States

Franciska T. de Vries,     School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

Timothy Doane,     Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Maxim Dorodnikov,     Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göettingen, Göettingen, Germany

Armando Gómez-Guerrero     Colegio de Postgraduados, Postgrado en Ciencias Forestales, Carretera México-Texcoco, Montecillo, Estado de México

Robert I. Griffiths,     Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford, United Kingdom

Katherine Heckman,     Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Houghton, MI, United States

Jeffrey A. Homburg

Statistical Research, Inc., Tucson, AZ, United States

School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States

William R. Horwath,     Department Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Yakov Kuzyakov,     Department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems, Department of Agricultural Soil Science, University of Göettingen, Göettingen, Germany

Hans Lambers,     School of Plant Biology, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia

Craig Rasmussen,     Soil, Water & Environmental Science Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States

Jonathan A. Sandor,     Agronomy Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States

Lucas C.R. Silva,     Environmental Studies Program, Department of Geography, Institute of Ecology & Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States

Kerri L. Steenwerth,     USDA-ARS, Crops Pathology and Genetics Research Unit, Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Xia Zhu-Barker,     Department of Land, Air and Water Resource, University of California, Davis, CA, United States

Chapter One

Soils, Climate, and Ancient Civilizations

Eric C. Brevik∗,¹, Jeffrey A. Homburg§,¶ and Jonathan A. Sandor||     ∗Department of Natural Sciences, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND, United States     §Statistical Research, Inc., Tucson, AZ, United States     ¶School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States     ||Agronomy Department, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States

¹ Corresponding author 

Abstract

Civilization is tied to soil through our reliance on agriculture. As early civilizations rapidly developed new agricultural strategies, their knowledge of soil and soil management expanded as well. Major innovations that appeared over the first few thousand years of agricultural production included irrigation, terracing, plows, contour tillage, and soil classification. Early means of maintaining soil fertility included intercropping, crop rotations that included legumes, fallowing, manuring, and the addition of ash. By using these techniques some societies developed sustainable agricultural systems that persisted for thousands of years. However, human management has often caused soil degradation, which has contributed to civilization collapse. It is important that we learn from both the sustainable and unsustainable agricultural practices of the past to prevent future civilization collapses and upheavals. In addition to degradation issues, soils are influenced by and influence the global climate system. Changing climates have contributed to the collapse of past human civilizations, and societies relying on degraded soils are more susceptible to problems from climate change. It is important that we understand soil–climate–human interactions and how climate change has impacted past societies. Gaining this understanding transcends any single academic field. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary studies are needed that link archaeologists, physical and social scientists, soil scientists, and others who can contribute to a holistic understanding of the impact of climate change on past human societies and the natural resources, such as soils, that they depended on. This will allow us to better plan for and manage future potential impacts.

Keywords

Agricultural history; Agriculture and climate change; Anthropogenic soil change; Civilization collapse; Interdisciplinary soil studies; Soil degradation; Soil management; Soil science history; Soils and archaeology; Transdisciplinary soil studies

Introduction

Civilization as we know it today is closely tied to agriculture, as the adoption of agriculture and the more steady, reliable, and higher quantity of food it supplies promoted increased populations and the development of permanent settlements, growing populations beyond numbers that could be supported by hunting and gathering (Binford et al., 1997; Kirch, 2005; Montgomery, 2007). Agriculture in turn is tied to soil, as soil supplies several major requirements such as an anchoring medium as well as water and nutrient supply and storage that are necessary to propagate crops. Therefore, civilization is tied to soil. In the earliest days of agricultural production, human soil knowledge was rudimentary (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010), but before the end of the Neolithic settlements were being located at sites with rich soils well suited to agriculture (Montgomery, 2007; Miller and Schaetzl, 2014), indicating that human knowledge of the soil properties needed for good crop growth was developing.

Just as human civilization relies on soils as the base of agriculture, it has also been highly influenced by our planet's ever evolving climate. Fluctuations between relatively wet versus dry (Weiss et al., 1993; Binford et al., 1997) or warm versus cold (McMichael, 2003) climates have contributed to civilization rise and collapse throughout human history, as these climatic fluctuations influenced the ability of humans to produce agricultural products at levels needed to sustain them. However, it is also important to note that climate change is typically only one aspect that may contribute to civilization collapse. Other factors such as social and economic conditions influence the health of civilizations and the way a given civilization responds to climate change (Kirch, 2005). For example, clinging to cultural traditions has been suggested as an explanation for the failure of the Norse settlements in Greenland as the Little Ice Age brought on a colder climate, given that Inuit communities were able to survive the same climate change (Pringle, 1997).

Climate change and its impact on both soils and civilizations is a major topic of interest today (Fig. 1.1). Studying what has happened in the past during changing climates can help us understand what is likely to happen in the future, and studying the way that past people have either adapted or failed to adapt to changes in climate can provide insight into potentially successful versus unsuccessful strategies to adapt to future climate change. Therefore, understanding our past is an important part of planning for the future.

Figure 1.1  Change in average surface temperature (A) and change in average precipitation (B) based on multimodel mean projections for 2081–2100 relative to 1986–2005 under the RCP2.6 (left) and RCP8.5 (right) scenarios. The number of models used to calculate the multimodel mean is indicated in the upper right corner of each panel. Stippling (i.e., dots ) shows regions where the projected change is large compared to natural internal variability and where at least 90% of models agree on the sign of change. Hatching (i.e., diagonal lines ) shows regions where the projected change is less than one standard deviation of the natural internal variability. 

Figure courtesy of IPCC, 2014. Climate change 2014: synthesis report. In: Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R.K., Meyer, L.A., (Eds.), Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC, Geneva.

The Use of Soils in Archaeology

Understanding ancient civilizations is the realm of archaeology, and soil science can be an important tool used by archaeologists to supply information on a wide range of subjects (Holliday, 2004; Homburg, 2005). Soils are an integral component of cultural landscapes and can provide significant information to archeological studies. This may include the impact of human occupation on a site and the environmental setting at the time of human occupation (Holliday, 2004). The location of buried soils can be used as markers for where artifacts are likely to be found (Hardman et al., 1998), and the location of artifacts within a soil can sometimes be used to assign approximate dates to the artifacts (Homburg, 1988). The number of soils at a site and the degree to which each soil developed can also provide important information about how much time a given archaeological site spans, the integrity of its archaeological record (Holliday, 1992), landscape evolution, and environmental change over time (Jacob, 1995; Monger, 1995; Mayer et al., 2005; Homburg et al., 2014a). Therefore, beyond just being an important part of the story about ancient civilizations, soils can also be an integral part of deciphering and understanding those civilizations.

Soils have been useful to archaeology in the study of ancient agricultural systems, as they provide significant insight into the diet (Sweetwood et al., 2009) and general land use (Jacob, 1995; Homburg and Sandor, 2011) of ancient people. Soil chemistry has been applied to help interpret activity patterns of occupation surfaces within a site (Entwistle, 2000; Parnell et al., 2002; Macphail et al., 2004). Soil micromorphological analysis has been used to reconstruct past soil management practices (Wilson et al., 2002) and activity areas within a site (Macphail et al., 2004) and interpret the intensity of various economic activities (Simpson et al., 2005) (Fig. 1.2). Induced magnetism in soil is a well-established technique used by archaeologists to locate, characterize (Smekalova et al., 1993; Schmidt, 2007), date (Schmidt, 2007; Hambach et al., 2008), and interpret archaeological sites, features, and stratigraphy.

Soils have frequently been used as part of broader, interdisciplinary approaches in archaeology. Sarris et al. (2004) used a combination of geophysics and soil chemistry to reconstruct a Copper Age settlement in modern-day Hungary. Homburg et al. (2014b) used sedimentology, stratigraphy, macrofossil and microfossil analysis, radiocarbon dating, and soils to reconstruct 7000  years of lagoon evolution in southern California, USA, to direct archaeological investigations of areas within a large study site that were most likely to yield significant cultural deposits, and May et al. (2008) used a combination of soils, stratigraphy, and artifacts to reconstruct the paleoecology of archaeological sites in Nebraska, USA. When used in combination with other fields, soils provide a very powerful tool in paleoenvironmental reconstruction, which is valuable to archaeologists who are attempting to decipher the resources that were available to prehistoric humans (Homburg, 2005). These studies can also be useful in the reconstruction of past climate changes and understanding how those changes may have influenced ancient civilizations.

Figure 1.2  Soil samples being collected for eventual thin section analysis (rectangular areas in the profile) at an archaeological excavation. Artifacts are also visible in the photograph. 

Figure courtesy of Jeffrey Homburg.

Studies at Ancient Sites to Understand Soils

Deep time is a concept of geologic time first developed in the 1700s by the Scottish geologist, James Hutton (1726–97), whereby he envisioned the geologic record as the product of endless slow cycles of rock formation below sea, including uplift and tilting of rock layers, subsequent erosion, and then formation of new strata below the sea. Boucher de Perthes (1847) was the first to demonstrate the deep antiquity of humans when he recovered ancient stone tools in stratigraphic association with bones of extinct Pleistocene mammoths, cave bears, and other mammals at a cave site in the Somme valley of northern France. This study demonstrated that humanity spans much longer than the 6000  years of time that was then accepted, following Archbishop James Ussher's (1581–1656) opinion more than two centuries earlier (Grayson, 1983). Similar to the geologic record, cycles of change can also be identified in the archaeological record, in this case over the life spans of civilizations. Cycles of flooding, drought, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, soil erosion, and other kinds of environmental hazards, as well as the spread of disease or warfare, have been very disruptive to past human civilizations, sometimes enough to explain their collapse.

Archaeology, like geology and soil science, is a historical science, and just as soils can provide insights into archaeology; archaeology can in turn provide insights into soils. The archaeological record takes a significant time to form, as cultural artifacts and other materials (e.g., pollen, phytoliths, charred plant remains, animal bone, etc.) are incorporated and embedded within the sedimentary and soil matrix of an archaeological site. Physical and chemical soil properties are commonly used by geoarchaeologists to make interpretations of the archaeological record, including how it was formed and altered in the past and how it is preserved today (Schiffer, 1987). Soils are used to draw archaeological inferences about human behavior, including identifying chemical signatures of different kinds of human activities in the past that may leave no physical traces. Archaeological studies are also used for assessing the long-term effects of cultivation on soil productivity.

The rest of this section focuses on methods and uncertainties in evaluating soil productivity in the archaeological record. Soil properties used for identifying evidence of agricultural degradation are summarized in Table 1.1. Use of the archaeological record has certain limitations and advantages and these are reviewed in the following section.

Limitations

The archaeological record is an imperfect record that is affected by numerous cultural and natural factors. In addition, there are a number of potential methodological problems and uncertainties that affect evaluations of the long-term effects of agriculture on soils in the archaeological record (Sandor and Homburg, 2011). Among these are difficulties in (1) field identification, (2) variability in the kind and age of agricultural systems, and their impact on soil, (3) postagricultural environmental change and land use impacts on soils, (4) availability of appropriate unfarmed (control) soils to use as references for quantifying soil change from agriculture; kinds of control soils, their validity, and what can be inferred from them, (5) sample design—number, depth, and type of samples and sample sites needed to test for soil differences, and (6) appropriate physical, chemical, and biological assays of soil properties and how to interpret results (e.g., Holliday, 2004; Homburg et al., 2005; Sandor et al., 1986). The potential and pitfalls of the comparative approach and other soil change testing issues are reviewed in more detail by Homburg and Sandor (2011).

Advantages and Benefits

The main advantages of the archaeological record are that it provides a deep time perspective for testing ideas and hypotheses, ideas that sometimes are derived from historical accounts and documentary evidence. However, much of the archaeological record predates historical accounts, often by centuries to millennia, so history is mute for much of the deep time record of archaeology. Neither the archaeological nor historical sources are complete records, but they can sometimes be combined and integrated (especially at that nexus between the two records), thereby providing a powerful method for testing the other discipline. Archaeology aims to reveal information about the past by excavating artifacts, cultural features (e.g., houses, storage facilities, ceramic kilns, but also canals, terraces, fields, and other kinds of agricultural features), and associated environmental samples such as soil and pollen samples. These samples are then analyzed and used for reconstructing cultural activities and assessing human effects on the environment (e.g., the timing of forest clearance for agriculture, effects of agriculture on soil health).

Table 1.1

Table 1.1

Adapted from Homburg et al., (2005).

Soil Knowledge and Management in Early Civilizations

Many early civilizations demonstrated knowledge of soil management as a way to improve agricultural production, and much of our understanding of this early soil knowledge comes from archaeological studies. The earliest evidence of soil manipulation for agricultural production dates back to approximately 9000 BCE (Troeh et al., 2004). Between 7500 and 500 BCE a number of other innovations were developed, including irrigation (Troeh et al., 2004), terracing (Sandor, 2006), early plows, and contour tillage (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010). While a trial and error approach was most likely used by early farmers to find the best agricultural sites, evidence indicates that soil spatial patterns were being recognized by some civilizations and used to select cropping (Krupenikov, 1992) and settlement (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014) sites by 3000–2000 BCE. Early civilizations such as the Chinese (Li and Cao, 1990; Gong et al., 2003) and Greeks (Krupenikov, 1992) were also classifying soils by 300 BCE. The study of soils had not yet advanced to the point of being a science in these early civilizations; soil science becoming a modern scientific field would not happen until approximately 1883 CE (Coffey, 1911; Landa and Brevik, 2015). However, ancient human populations around the world were definitely aware of soils and ways to manipulate those soils to their advantage, and Krupenikov (1992) argues that soil science appeared as an empirical field about 500–0 BCE. Some examples of this early knowledge from different parts of the world will be reviewed in this section.

Asia

The oldest indications of human management of soil found to date come from Asia, near Jarmo in Iraq, and date to about 9000 BCE (Troeh et al., 2004; Montgomery, 2007). Evidence of agricultural production showed up shortly afterward in Abu Hureyra in modern Syria (Montgomery, 2007). Irrigation was developed in modern-day Iraq by 7500 BCE (Troeh et al., 2004), and early plows were developed in the Middle East between 6000 and 4000 BCE, which revolutionized soil preparation for planting (Hillel, 1991; Lal, 2007). The plow appeared about the same time that all fertile land in Mesopotamia had been placed under cultivation, and it was necessary to find ways to increase crop production by means other than simply adding new agricultural fields (Montgomery, 2007). With the domestication of sheep and goats about 8000 BCE in the Zagros Mountains area, manure was used to fertilize fields (Montgomery, 2007), and occupants of the marshes in southern Iraq were creating artificial soils to build up small islands in the marshes and support their agricultural lifestyle as early as 3000 BCE (Fitzpatrick, 2004). Terraces were utilized for the first time in the Near East between 4000 and 3000 BCE (Sandor, 2006).

Ancient civilizations in other parts of Asia were also developing agriculture and a knowledge of soil. Agricultural production began in China not long after its beginnings in the Middle East (Montgomery, 2007). Other ancient indications of soil management for agricultural purposes come from China, where rice was cultivated by 7000 BCE (Gong et al., 2003), paddy soils were in use by 4000 BCE (Cao et al., 2006), and terraces by 1000 BCE (Sandor, 2006) (Fig. 1.3); India, where plowing was a common practice by 3000 BCE (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010); and Uzbekistan, where farmers amended soils to improve both fertility and texture as early as 2000 BCE (Krupenikov, 1992). Early drainage canals found in Papua New Guinea date to 7000 BCE with more extensive drainage systems and the construction of raised soil beds by 4000 BCE (Vasey, 2002).

Europe

Agriculture spread west from the Middle East into Europe, starting with Turkey and Greece about 6300 BCE (Montgomery, 2007). The ancient Greek philosopher-scientists recognized differences between soils by the second millennium BCE; they are credited with the first recorded works that show knowledge of soil properties and with developing a soil profile concept (Krupenikov, 1992). They understood that plant nutrients were supplied by soil (Sparks, 2006) and wrote of water storage in soils (Hillel, 1991). Their attention to soils allowed the Greeks to choose crops best suited to the soils at a given location (Krupenikov, 1992). Despite this, soil erosion and degradation became a major problem in ancient Greece (Dotterweich, 2013; Hillel, 1991; Troeh et al., 2004).

The Romans utilized