Reforestation can sequester two petagrams of carbon in US topsoils in a century

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
L E NaveC W Swanston

Abstract

Soils are Earth's largest terrestrial carbon (C) pool, and their responsiveness to land use and management make them appealing targets for strategies to enhance C sequestration. Numerous studies have identified practices that increase soil C, but their inferences are often based on limited data extrapolated over large areas. Here, we combine 15,000 observations from two national-level databases with remote sensing information to address the impacts of reforestation on the sequestration of C in topsoils (uppermost mineral soil horizons). We quantify C stocks in cultivated, reforesting, and natural forest topsoils; rates of C accumulation in reforesting topsoils; and their contribution to the US forest C sink. Our results indicate that reforestation increases topsoil C storage, and that reforesting lands, currently occupying >500,000 km2 in the United States, will sequester a cumulative 1.3-2.1 Pg C within a century (13-21 Tg C·y-1). Annually, these C gains constitute 10% of the US forest sector C sink and offset 1% of all US greenhouse gas emissions.

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Citations

Sep 25, 2020·Nature·Susan C Cook-PattonBronson W Griscom
Sep 23, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Grant M DomkeRandall S Morin
Oct 19, 2019·Science·Jean-Francois BastinThomas W Crowther
Nov 16, 2018·The Science of the Total Environment·Baijing CaoBrian F Walters
Jan 12, 2021·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·S A BillingsW Wieder
Apr 20, 2021·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·L E NaveC W Swanston

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