Effects of conservation agriculture on carbon dynamics across eroded slopes: A global synthesis

IF 6 1区农林科学 Q1 AGRICULTURE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment Pub Date : 2025-04-15 DOI:10.1016/j.agee.2025.109696

Liangang Xiao, Kebing Zhao, Yudi Wang, Rongqin Zhao, Zhixiang Xie, Qingfeng Hu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Conservation agriculture represents an essential management for sustainable development of croplands, and a number of syntheses have been published to investigate its benefits in terms of erosion control and carbon sequestration. However, previous studies usually investigated the two benefits separately, and it currently lacks a comprehensive evaluation of how the application of conservation agriculture impacts on the carbon cycling in the background of erosion. In this study, we systematically investigated the erosion processes and carbon dynamics across eroded slopes after adopting various conservation practices based on the data obtained from field experiments across the globe. The results showed that, compared to conventional tillage, adopting conservation agriculture did not significantly reduce runoff on average (-8.8 %), but it led to a significant reduction of sediment loss (-34.2 %). The application of conservation agriculture resulted in a significant increase of soil organic carbon accumulation in the top layer of 10 cm (+27.7 %), and single erosion event was not able to change the soil organic carbon content in the surface 5 cm. The loss of soil organic carbon was significantly reduced (-31.2 %) under conservation measures, but the soil organic carbon concentration in sediment was significantly increased (+15.2 %). The enrichment ratio of soil organic carbon in sediment did not increase significantly compared to that of conventional tillage (+1.4 %). The impact of conservation agriculture on carbon mineralization was minimal in the soil surface (-0.1 %), but it significantly increased the mineralization rate of carbon in runoff and sediment (+63.7 %), indicating a higher mineralization potential of eroded carbon under conservation agriculture. The results further highlighted the critical contribution of straw mulching in erosion control, soil organic carbon loss reduction, and soil organic carbon accumulation, while reduced tillage represents the least effective measure. Overall, this study quantitively summarizes the basic carbon dynamics across eroded slopes under conservation agriculture, and may provide important evidence for comprehensively understanding the mechanisms of how conservation agriculture influences on carbon accumulation, erosion, and mineralization under the background of erosion from a new perspective.

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保护性农业对侵蚀斜坡碳动态的影响：全球综述

保护性农业是耕地可持续发展的一项重要管理措施，目前已发表了大量综述，研究其在控制侵蚀和固碳方面的益处。然而，以往的研究通常将这两种效益分开研究，目前还缺乏对保护性农业的应用如何影响侵蚀背景下的碳循环的全面评估。在本研究中，我们根据从全球各地田间试验中获得的数据，系统地研究了采用各种保护性耕作方法后侵蚀斜坡的侵蚀过程和碳动态。结果表明，与传统耕作相比，采用保护性耕作并不能显著减少径流（-8.8%），但却能显著减少沉积物流失（-34.2%）。保护性耕作使表层 10 厘米的土壤有机碳积累显著增加（+27.7%），单次侵蚀事件无法改变表层 5 厘米的土壤有机碳含量。在水土保持措施下，土壤有机碳的流失量显著减少（-31.2%），但沉积物中的土壤有机碳浓度显著增加（+15.2%）。与传统耕作相比，沉积物中土壤有机碳的富集比没有明显增加（+1.4 %）。保护性耕作对土壤表层碳矿化的影响很小（-0.1 %），但却显著提高了径流和沉积物中碳的矿化率（+63.7 %），表明保护性耕作下侵蚀碳的矿化潜力更高。研究结果进一步突出了秸秆覆盖在控制侵蚀、减少土壤有机碳流失和土壤有机碳积累方面的重要作用，而减少耕作是最不有效的措施。总之，本研究定量总结了保护性耕作下侵蚀坡地的基本碳动态，为从新的视角全面理解侵蚀背景下保护性耕作对碳积累、侵蚀和矿化的影响机制提供了重要依据。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

11.70

自引率

9.10%

发文量

392

审稿时长

26 days

期刊介绍： Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment publishes scientific articles dealing with the interface between agroecosystems and the natural environment, specifically how agriculture influences the environment and how changes in that environment impact agroecosystems. Preference is given to papers from experimental and observational research at the field, system or landscape level, from studies that enhance our understanding of processes using data-based biophysical modelling, and papers that bridge scientific disciplines and integrate knowledge. All papers should be placed in an international or wide comparative context.