Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Dynamics in European Ecosystems is a comprehensive overview of the latest research in this field drawn together by a network of scientists, currently working for the European research programme, COST Action 639 BurnOut(www.cost639.net; 2006-2010). COST Action 639 emerged from a demand from policy makers in Europe for more detailed information on soil carbon dynamics. The cooperation between experts for reporting and experts for soil dynamics is the focus of the book. This book seeks to provide an up-to-date account on the state-of-the-art research within this topical field. This book focuses primarily on ecosystems and their soil carbon stocks. The book identifies three key sensitive ecosystems within Europe: Mediterranean Forest and Agricultural Systems; Mountains; and Peatland.

InhaltsangabeContributors ix 1 Introduction to carbon in sensitive European ecosystems: from science to land management 1 Robert Jandl and Mats Olsson 1.1 Rationale for this book 1 1.2 What do we need to know about soils for reporting purposes? 3 1.3 Objectives and overview of COST Action 639 4 1.4 Working Groups of COST Action 639 4 1.5 Regional coverage 8 Appendix 1.A Management Committee of COST Action 639 9 References 12 2 Hot spots and hot moments for greenhouse gas emissions from soils 13 Frank Hagedorn and Pat Bellamy 2.1 Introduction 13 2.2 Hot spots: where are they? 15 2.3 How to quantify hot spots? 19 2.4 Mapping soil carbon at the local and regional scale 20 2.5 Case study: assessing soil carbon changes across England and Wales 22 2.6 Quantifying hot moments 27 2.7 Reporting of hot spots and hot moments 27 2.8 Conclusions 28 References 28 3 Landuse change effects on soil carbon stocks in temperate regions development of carbon response functions 33 Lars Vesterdal, Jens Leifeld, Christopher Poeplau, Axel Don and Bas van Wesemael 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Previous synthesis studies on land use change effects on SOC 35 3.3 The concept of carbon response functions 37 3.4 Temporal dynamics of SOC after land use change in temperate regions 38 3.5 Implication for greenhouse gas reporting 43 3.6 Conclusions 44 References 45 4 Carbon in European soils 49 Rainer Baritz, Dietmar Zirlewagen, Robert Jones, Dominique Arrouays, Roland Hiederer, Marion Schrumpf and Winfried Riek 4.1 Existing soil carbon inventories in Europe 49 4.2 Detectability of change from soil inventories 57 4.3 Assessment of baseline carbon stocks in Europe 70 4.4 Pattern detection and predictors for carbon storage at landscape and continental scale 71 4.5 Conclusions about soil carbon baselines and change detection in Europe 79 References 79 5 Ecosystem disturbance and soil organic carbon - a review 85 Helga Van Miegroet and Mats Olsson 5.1 Introduction 85 5.2 The carbon cycle and disturbance 86 5.3 Anthropogenic disturbance due to forest harvesting 87 5.4 Natural disturbances 93 5.5 Summary and conclusions 108 References 108 6 Mountain soils in a changing climate - vulnerability of carbon stocks and ecosystem feedbacks 118 Sofie Sjogersten-Turner, Christine Alewell, Lauric Cecillon, Frank Hagedorn, Robert Jandl, Jens Leifeld, Vegard Martinsen, Andreas Schindlbacher, M. Teresa Sebastia and Helga Van Miegroet 6.1 Introduction 119 6.2 Carbon stocks and their quality 121 6.3 The role of erosion for carbon fluxes 125 6.4 Climate change in European mountains 126 6.5 Future threats to high altitude carbon storage 128 6.6 Conclusions 138 Acknowledgement 139 References 139 7 Greenhouse gas balance in disturbed peatlands 149 Jukka Alm, Kenneth A. Byrne, Ciara Hayes, Jens Leifeld, and Narasinha J. Shurpali 7.1 Origins, distribution and current use of peatlands in Europe 149 7.2 Disturbances in undrained mires 153 7.3 Disturbances due to peatland management 154 7.4 Reporting emissions of greenhouse gases from managed peatlands 156 7.5 Recovery from peat loss: restoration, afforestation or energy crops? 162 7.6 Conclusions 168 References 169 8 Soil carbon in Mediterranean ecosystems and related management problems 175 Mirco Rodeghiero, Agust1n Rubio, Eugenio D1az-Pines, Joan Romanya, Sara Maranon-Jimenez, Guy J. Levy, Ana Patricia Fernandez-Getino, Maria Teresa Sebastia, Theodore Karyotis, Tommaso Chiti, Costantino Sirca, Afonso Martins, Manuel Madeira, Miglena Zhiyanski, Luciano Gristina and Tommaso La Mantia 8.1 Introduction 176 8.2 Mediterranean soil 177 8.3 Soil carbon stocks in the major Mediterranean ecosystems 178 8.4 Effects of wildfires on soil carbon dioxide efflux in Mediterranean ecosystems 184 8.5 Dehesas 187 8.6 Mediterranean rangelands 194 8.7 Agricultural practices a