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Historic Changes in Terrestrial Carbon Storage

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Recarbonization of the Biosphere

Abstract

Human use of land has reduced the amount of carbon (C) in terrestrial ecosystems, probably since the first use of fire as a tool for clearing land thousands of years ago. Because variations in climate have also affected C storage over this period, it is difficult to attribute long-term changes in terrestrial C to direct human activity. Over the last 150–300 years, however, reconstructions of land use and land-use change suggest that between ∼100 and ∼200 Pg (1 Pg  =  1015 g) C were lost from land, largely from the conversion of forests to agricultural lands. This loss of C over the past century or so is greater than the loss attributable to human activity for all of time before 1850. Most of the loss since 1850 has been from forest biomass, while the loss of C from soil organic matter (SOM) as a result of cultivation is estimated to have contributed ∼25% of the net loss. The restoration of forests on cleared lands could, in theory, re-carbonize the biosphere with 100–200 Pg C; but most of these lands are currently in use and unlikely to be returned to forests. Management practices would have to reverse the centuries-long loss of C.

For most of the last 300 years, the net annual loss of C from land use seems to explain (i.e., is roughly equivalent to) the net terrestrial flux of C to the atmosphere. Starting near the middle of the twentieth century, however, the annual net emissions of C from land use appear to have been offset by a terrestrial C sink not directly related to land use. The explanations for this residual terrestrial sink include carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization, nitrogen (N) deposition, variations in climate, and, possibly, a centuries-long reduction of natural disturbances. Much of the offsetting C sink is thought to be in forests. The residual C sink indicates that terrestrial ecosystems, despite land use, have removed C from the atmosphere over the last decades. The magnitude of this sink is large relative to the effect human management could have, but recent evidence suggests that the sink may be beginning to saturate. If the residual terrestrial sink were to disappear or become an additional source of C as a result of climate change, managing the global C cycle would be much more difficult than envisioned today.

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Abbreviations

C:

carbon

SOC:

soil organic carbon

SOM:

soil organic matter

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  1. Woods Hole Research Center, 149 Woods Hole Road, Falmouth, MA, 02540, USA

    R. A. Houghton

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. OARDC, Carbon Management &, Ohio State University, Coffey Road 2021, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Rattan Lal

  2. , Global Contract for Sustainability, IASS Inst. for Adv. Sust. Studies, Berliner Str. 130, Potsdam, 14467, Brandenburg, Germany

    Klaus Lorenz

  3. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Reinhard F. Hüttl

  4. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 309G, Potsdam, 14473, Brandenburg, Germany

    Bernd Uwe Schneider

  5. Walter-Flex-Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Joachim von Braun

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Houghton, R.A. (2012). Historic Changes in Terrestrial Carbon Storage. In: Lal, R., Lorenz, K., Hüttl, R., Schneider, B., von Braun, J. (eds) Recarbonization of the Biosphere. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4159-1_4

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