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Tap av organisk materiale, jordpakking og erosjon truer jordhelsa på kornareal. Problemer med dette vil antagelig øke i et våtere klima og medføre store kostnader for både gårdbrukere og samfunn. Fremover må vi passe på å stabilisere erosjonsutsatt jordoverflate og sikre en god infiltrasjon av nedbør. På kornareal er lav årlig tilførsel av karbon en begrensende faktor for aggregering og stabilisering, men dette kan forbedres ved å beholde halmen på jordet eller bruke en tilpasset fangvekststrategi. En bør trolig skjevfordele tilført organisk materiale mer mot jordas overflate og dermed stimulere mikrobiell aktivitet i jordas toppsjikt. Da må en minimere jordarbeidingsintensiteten. Slik redusert jordarbeiding fører også til utvikling av et kontinuerlig poresystem nedover i profilet som kan øke infiltrasjonen etter kraftige nedbørsepisoder og dermed bidra til å dempe flomtopper. Store mengder plantemateriale ved jordoverflaten gir imidlertid også noen utfordringer. Det trengs økt kunnskap om ugrasbekjempelse, spesielt i et scenario der glyfosat blir forbudt. Minimal jordarbeiding med planterester på jordoverflaten kan også øke angrep av sopp. Integrerte plantevernstrategier bør identifisere arter og sorter av matplanter og fangvekster som kan bidra til å begrense forekomst av patogener i jord og halmrester. Bedre jordhelse på kornareal er en tverrfaglig utfordring og krever en varig endring av dagens dyrkingspraksis.

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Pyrolysis is a valid thermos-chemical process of energy production that produces biochar from potentially harmful biomasses. This study aims to investigate the pyrolytic conversion of olive mill solid residues (OMSR) into biochar, with the aim of characterizing this product towards applications for soil improvement and soil C sequestration. Production parameters of OMSR-biochar (OB) and physico-chemical characteristics were analyzed and compared with published data to assess the potential of OB to serve as a soil amendment and soil C sequestration method. The slow pyrolysis of OMSR at 450° leads to a good proportion between produced products (fuels liquid and gas, and solid), and generates about the 35% of OB. In turn, this product reveals the absence of phytotoxicity, the presence of exchangeable surface cations, structure, particle size distribution and external surface groups suitable for agricultural uses, and high C content with a potential long lasting in soil. The physico-chemical characteristics of OB reported here suggest that OB could be used for improving soils and increasing C sequestration in a sustainable way.

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Numerical models are crucial to understand and/or predict past and future soil organic carbon dynamics. For those models aiming at prediction, validation is a critical step to gain confidence in projections. With a comprehensive review of ~250 models, we assess how models are validated depending on their objectives and features, discuss how validation of predictive models can be improved. We find a critical lack of independent validation using observed time series. Conducting such validations should be a priority to improve the model reliability. Approximately 60% of the models we analysed are not designed for predictions, but rather for conceptual understanding of soil processes. These models provide important insights by identifying key processes and alternative formalisms that can be relevant for predictive models. We argue that combining independent validation based on observed time series and improved information flow between predictive and conceptual models will increase reliability in predictions.

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Sorption of nutrients such as NH4+ is often quoted as a critical property of biochar, explaining its value as a soil amendment and a filter material. However, published values for NH4+ sorption to biochar vary by more than 3 orders of magnitude, without consensus as to the source of this variability. This lack of understanding greatly limits our ability to use quantitative sorption measurements towards product design. Here, our objective was to conduct a quantitative analysis of the sources of variability, and infer which biochar traits are more favourable to high sorption capacity. To do so, we conducted a standardized remodelling exercise of published batch sorption studies using Langmuir sorption isotherm. We excluded studies presenting datasets that either could not be reconciled with the standard Langmuir sorption isotherm or generated clear outliers. Our analysis indicates that the magnitude of sorption capacity of unmodified biochar for NH4+ is lower than previously reported, with a median of 4.2 mg NH4+ g−1 and a maximum reported sorption capacity of 22.8 mg NH4+ g−1. Activation resulted in a significant relative improvement in sorption capacity, but absolute improvements remain modest, with a maximum reported sorption of 27.56 mg NH4+ g−1 for an activated biochar. Methodology appeared to substantially impact sorption estimates, especially practices such as pH control of batch sorption solution and ash removal. Our results highlight some significant challenges in the quantification of NH4+ sorption by biochar and our curated data set provides a potentially valuable scale against which future estimates can be assessed.

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En oppsummering av utredning som tar hensyn til både vitenskapelige funn og praktisk erfaring viser: Positive effekter mht. forbedring av jordkvalitet, men begrenset avlingseffekt i Norden Samlete funn fra internasjonal forskning viser generelt at biokull bidrar positivt til både forbedring av jordkvalitet og avling. Forskning fra Norge og Norden viser en beskjeden positiv effekt på jordkvalitet, og ingen effekt på planteavling når ubehandlet biokull ble tiført dyrkingsjorda. Innblanding av biokull i næringsrik biorest (fra biogassanlegg) har enten ingen eller en liten positiv effekt på planteavlinger, og vi anbefaler mer forskning for optimalisering for slik bruk. Biokull kan forbedre komposteringprosesser og redusere klimagassutslipp under kompostering Biokull bidrar positivt til forbedring av komposteringsprosesser, og de fleste studier viser en reduksjon i produksjon av N2O og CH4 under kompostering med biokull, samt redusert tap av NH3. Effekten av biokull er størst når biokull tilsettes ved oppstart av en komposteringsprosess. Biokulltilsetning gir raskere kompostering og et mer stabilt og hygienisert produkt. Kompost-biokull-blandinger gir ikke økt planteavling sammenlignet med kompost uten biokull. Biokull i gjødselvarer kan gi økt avling, og bedre utnytelse av næringsstoffer, men teknologien trenger videre utvikling og det finnes ingen slike produkter på markedet i Norge. Internasjonal forskning viser at når biokull brukes som del av en gjødselvare, øker avlingene i snitt med ca. 17% sammenlignet med kontrollbehandlinger med samme mengde N-gjødsling, men uten biokull. Binding av næringsstoffer på biokulloverflater krever mer avansert teknologi enn opprinnelig antatt. Mens mye forskning pågår internasjonalt og i Norge, har vi ingen produkter på markedet i Norge for utprøving. Utvikling av biokullfilter for gjenvinning av NH3 i gjødselværer kan også bli en lovende teknologi. Biokull i fôr til husdyr kan bedre dyrehelse Tilskudd av biokull i dietten til fjørfe, svin og drøvtyggere har vist å kunne bedre dyrehelse og redusere sykdom forårsaket av en rekke patogene bakterier. Undersøkelsene er utenlandske, og det er ikke gjennomført forsøk i Norge som kan vise slike resultater. Forsøk gjennomført av NIBIO viser at tilsetning av 2 % biokull i fôret til lam i 6 uker ikke påvirket totalt fôropptak. Tilsetning av biokull ved fôring av smågris utført på gårder i Innlandet viste redusert forekomst av diaré, og i noen tilfeller vektøkning. Ellers varierte resultatene mellom dyreinnsett, uten klare positive eller negative effekter. Varierende effekter på binding av tungmetaller, avhengig av jordtype og type biokull Forsøk med ulike typer forurenset og naturlig tungmetallrik jord (bl.a. alunskiferjord) der biokull ble tilsatt for å redusere opptak i planter, har vist varierende effekt mht. ulike tungmetaller, ulike typer biokull og ulike typer jord og planter. Biokull med gode bindingsegenskaper bør testes for å optimalisere denne anvendelsen.

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Background Biochar-based fertilizer products (BCF) have been reported to increase both crop yield and N-use efficiency. Such positive effects are often assumed to result from the slow-release of N adsorbed on BCF structures. However, a careful review of the literature suggests that actual mechanisms remain uncertain, which hampers the development of efficient BCF products. Scope Here, we aim at reviewing BCF mechanisms responsible for enhanced N uptake by plants, and evaluate the potential for further improvement. We review the capacity of biochar structures to adsorb and release N forms, the biochar properties supporting this effect, and the methods that have been proposed to enhance this effect. Conclusions Current biochar products show insufficient sorption capacity for the retention of N forms to support the production of slow-release BCFs of high enough N concentration. Substantial slow-release effects appear to require conventional coating technology. Sorption capacity can be improved through activation and additives, but currently not to the extent needed for concentrated BCFs. Positive effects of commercial BCFs containing small amount of biochar appear to result from pyrolysis-derived biostimulants. Our review highlights three prospects for improving N retention: 1) sorption of NH3 gas on specifically activated biochar, 2) synergies between biochar and clay porosities, which might provide economical sorption enhancement, and 3) physical loading of solid N forms within biochar. Beyond proof of concept, quantitative nutrient studies are needed to ascertain that potential future BCFs deliver expected effects on both slow-release and N use efficiency.

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Formålet med denne rapporten har vært å undersøke gårdbrukeres holdninger til ulike klimatiltak, og særlig biokull. Vi gjennomførte en elektronisk spørreundersøkelse i 2021 med 896 respondenter. Det var mest sannsynlig at gårdbrukerne ville gjennomføre klimatiltaket drenering, etterfulgt av bedre utnytelse av mineralgjødsel og bruk av fangvekster. For klimatiltak som bare er aktuelle for husdyrprodusenter, var friskere dyr det mest sannsynlige tiltaket de ville gjennomføre, etterfulgt av bedre utnyttelse av husdyrgjødsel og bedre grovfôrkvalitet. Bekymring for globale klimagassutslipp, kjennskap til klimaavtalen, ingen eller lav stillingsprosent utenfor gårdsbruket og lav alder økte sannsynligheten for å gjennomføre tiltak. De aller fleste gårdbrukerne var svært enige i at det er viktig at klimatiltak i landbruket ikke slår beina under andre goder som kulturlandskap, biologisk mangfold og levende bygder og at klimatiltak i landbruket ikke må redusere norsk matproduksjon. De aller fleste var uenige i at landbruket må redusere klimagassutslippene sine ved å ha færre drøvtyggere. Litt over halvparten av gårdbrukerne var interesserte i å bruke biokull i gårdsdrifta dersom de agronomiske fordelene er større enn kostnadene. Den viktigste faktoren som kan bidra til at gårdbrukerne vurderer å bruke biokull er at prisen på biokull blir så lav at de agronomiske fordelene blir større enn de økonomiske ulempene, etterfulgt av at det innføres tilskuddsordninger, at de får betalt for å binde karbon i jorda og at de får økt kunnskap om ulike bruksmåter og agronomiske effekter.

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Biochar-based fertilizer products (BCF) are receiving increasing attention as potential win-win solutions for mitigating climate change and improving agricultural production. BCFs are reported to increase yields through increased N use efficiency, an effect which is often assumed to result from the slow-release of adsorbed N forms into the soil. Here, we review the magnitude of this effect, the potential for further improvement and the need to consider other mechanisms in product development. Current high-N commercial BCFs are mostly physical blends of biochar and mineral fertilizer, with little evidence of slow-release effects supported by sorption mechanisms. For such products, the main effect potentially results from root-growth promoting factors and from increases in soil pH and Eh and stimulation of beneficial micro-organisms in the rhizosphere, which all result in an increase in uptake of specific nutrients. Our reanalysis of literature data indicates that the median sorption capacity of untreated biochar for mineral N forms requires applying 200 times more biochar than N fertilizer. This ratio needs reducing by at least an order of magnitude for producing efficient sorption-based BCFs. Activation of biochar with acids and oxidizing agents, as reported in many studies, appears to only marginally increase sorption capacity in absolute values. Fixation of clay and organics within the porous structure of biochar appears a more promising technology, suggesting that macro- and mesoporosity is a key biochar property that deserves greater scrutiny and research towards making efficient sorption-based BCFs. Mechanisms of action and dose responses need to be more systematically studied in order to devise products that combine positive effects and can be used within realistic agronomic management practices. Long-term effects resulting from accumulated annual inputs of BCF also need to be better evaluated in terms of nutrient cycling and the progressive improvement of soil health.

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Forest harvest residue is a low-competitive biomass feedstock that is usually left to decay on site after forestry operations. Its removal and pyrolytic conversion to biochar is seen as an opportunity to reduce terrestrial CO2 emissions and mitigate climate change. The mitigation effect of biochar is, however, ultimately dependent on the availability of the biomass feedstock, thus CO2 removal of biochar needs to be assessed in relation to the capacity to supply biochar systems with biomass feedstocks over prolonged time scales, relevant for climate mitigation. In the present study we used an assembly of empirical models to forecast the effects of harvest residue removal on soil C storage and the technical capacity of biochar to mitigate national-scale emissions over the century, using Norway as a case study for boreal conditions. We estimate the mitigation potential to vary between 0.41 and 0.78 Tg CO2 equivalents yr−1, of which 79% could be attributed to increased soil C stock, and 21% to the coproduction of bioenergy. These values correspond to 9–17% of the emissions of the Norwegian agricultural sector and to 0.8–1.5% of the total national emission. This illustrates that deployment of biochar from forest harvest residues in countries with a large forestry sector, relative to economy and population size, is likely to have a relatively small contribution to national emission reduction targets but may have a large effect on agricultural emission and commitments. Strategies for biochar deployment need to consider that biochar's mitigation effect is limited by the feedstock supply which needs to be critically assessed.

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Limiting temperature rise below 2 °C requires large deployment of Negative Emission Technologies (NET) to capture and store atmospheric CO2. Compared to other types of NETs, biochar has emerged as a mature option to store carbon in soils while providing several co-benefits and limited trade-offs. Existing life-cycle assessment studies of biochar systems mostly focus on climate impacts from greenhouse gasses (GHGs), while other forcing agents, effects on soil emissions, other impact categories, and the implications of a large-scale national deployment are rarely jointly considered. Here, we consider all these aspects and quantify the environmental impacts of application to agricultural soils of biochar from forest residues available in Norway considering different scenarios (including mixing of biochar with synthetic fertilizers and bio-oil sequestration for long-term storage). All the biochar scenarios deliver negative emissions under a life-cycle perspective, ranging from -1.72 ± 0.45 tonnes CO2-eq. ha−1 yr−1 to -7.18 ± 0.67 tonnes CO2-eq. ha−1 yr−1 (when bio-oil is sequestered). Estimated negative emissions are robust to multiple climate metrics and a large range of uncertainties tested with a Monte-Carlo analysis. Co-benefits exist with crop yields, stratospheric ozone depletion and marine eutrophication, but potential trade-offs occur with tropospheric ozone formation, fine particulate formation, terrestrial acidification and ecotoxicity. At a national level, biochar has the potential to offset between 13% and 40% of the GHG emissions from the Norwegian agricultural sector. Overall, our study shows the importance of integrating emissions from the supply chain with those from agricultural soils to estimate mitigation potentials of biochar in specific regional contexts.

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Deliverable 2.5. This report contributes to the EJP SOIL roadmap for climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management and research by identifying current policy targets and realizations and setting soil service aspirational goals by 2050 at the regional/national (Chapter 2) and European scale (Chapter 3). At both scales, the report is based on a desk study of current agricultural soil related policies, followed by a stakeholder consultation. Twenty countries/regions have contributed to the regional/national analyses and 347 different stakeholders have provided their views on soil policy. The policy analysis demonstrates that large differences exist between the number of policy targets per soil challenge. In general, the soil challenge ‘Maintaining/increasing soil organic carbon’ can be considered as the most important soil challenge taking into account both the policies of the participating countries and of the EU level. This soil challenge not only has (one of) the largest share(s) of quantitative and qualitative targets, but also has a large share of the targets for which an indicator and monitoring is in progress or existing. At the EU level, ‘Avoiding contamination’ is also particularly high addressed in policy documents. In the participating countries, other very important soil challenges in policy are ‘Enhance nutrient retention/use efficiency’, ‘Avoid soil erosion’ and ‘Avoid soil contamination’. These soil challenges comprise a large share of soil- and agricultural soil specific targets. However, despite the large number of policy targets, identified by the participating EJP SOIL countries, there is still a shared need for appropriate clear (quantified) policy targets with a specific time horizon, well-defined indicators and a monitoring systems. Similar results are found at the EU level. Policy targets addressing soil challenges are mostly not expressed in quantitative terms and indicators for monitoring policy targets with references to soil challenges were identified for less than half of the cases. From the stakeholder consultations, it becomes clear that for all soil challenges there is still a way to go before future aspirational goals will be met. Generally, when averaging between all countries, the gap between current policy targets and realizations is for most soil challenges considered between large and halfway in reaching the current policy targets and for most soil challenges current policy targets are regarded almost- to- far from being futureproof. In the prioritization of soil challenges, stakeholders at the regional/country and European level, clearly marked maintaining/increasing SOC as the most relevant soil challenge in the upcoming decades. The stakeholders explain the key role of maintaining/increasing soil organic carbon through the multiple interactions with other soil challenges and for climate change mitigation. At the EU level, the second highest ranked prioritization is soil sealing, due to its irreversible nature. This is, however, not reflected at the country level, potentially due to a misinterpretation of soil sealing as compaction by part of the stakeholders. At the country level, enhancing soil nutrient retention/use efficiency was ranked 2nd in the prioritization exercise. Generally, there is an urgency for policy updates, because the current policy is considered unable to tackle the prominent soil challenges. In the report, also the soil related management practices to achieve the aspirational goals have been identified, both in the policy analysis and in the stakeholder consultation. The most prominent differences between policy and stakeholders, is in the emphasis on the use of buffer strips and small landscape elements in policy, while measures in this category are less highly ranked by the stakeholders. On the other hand, conservation agriculture, agro-ecological farming, precision agriculture, incorporation ........

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Deliverable 2.3. This synthesis identifies the available knowledge of achievable carbon sequestration in mineral soils and GHGs mitigation in organic soils in agricultural land, including pasture/grassland across Europe. The inventory of past and current studies on carbon sequestration and GHGs mitigation measures in agricultural soils and the methodology used for the assessment were considered from 25 Member states (MS) across Europe. The stocktake shows that availability of datasets concerning soil carbon sequestration (SCS) is variable among Europe. While northern Europe and central Europe is relatively well studied, there is a lack of studies comprising parts of Southern, Southeaster and Western Europe. Further, it can be concluded that at present country based knowledge and engagement is still poor; very few countries have an idea on their national-wide achievable carbon sequestration potential. The presented national SCS potentials (MS n=13) do however point towards important contributions to mitigate climate change by covering considerable shares of national greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector in the range of 0.1-27 %, underpinning the importance of further investigations. In contrast to mineral soils, effective mitigation measures for organic soils while maintaining industrial agricultural production are still in its infancy. Very few mitigation options exist to mitigate GHG emissions without compromising agricultural production. Most GHG mitigation practices reported by the MS involve the restoration of organic soils, which means a complete abandonment of land from any agricultural use. Only one contribution (NL) reports possible mitigation potentials, which are based on specific water management measures (water level fixation). Nevertheless, there is an increasing awareness of the need of mitigation measures reflected by the several ongoing research projects on peatland management.

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Heavy metals in soil pose a constant risk for animals and humans when entering their food chains, and limited means are available to reduce plant accumulation from more or less polluted soils. Biochar, which is made by pyrolysis of organic residues and sees increasing use as a soil amendment to mitigate anthropogenic C emissions and improve agronomic soil properties, has also been shown to reduce plant availability of heavy metals in soils. The cause for the reduction of metal uptake in plants when grown in soils enriched with biochar has generally been researched in terms of increased pH and alkalinity, while other potential mechanisms have been less studied. We conducted a pot experiment with barley using three soils differing in metal content and amended or not with 2% biochar made from Miscanthus x giganteus, and assessed plant contents and changes in bioavailability in bulk and rhizosphere soil by measuring extractability in acetic acid or ammonium nitrate. In spite of negligible pH changes upon biochar amendment, the results showed that biochar reduced extractability of Cu, Pb and Zn, but not of Cd. Rhizosphere soil contained more easily extractable Cu, Pb and Zn than bulk soil, while for Cd it did not. Generally, reduced plant uptake due to biochar was reflected in the amounts of metals extractable with ammonium nitrate, but not acetic acid.

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To respect the Paris agreement targeting a limitation of global warming below 2°C by 2100, and possibly below 1.5 °C, drastic reductions of greenhouse gas emissions are mandatory but not sufficient. Large‐scale deployment of other climate mitigation strategies are also necessary. Among these, increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is an important lever because carbon in soils can be stored for long periods and land management options to achieve this already exist and have been widely tested. However, agricultural soils are also an important source of nitrous oxide (N2O), a powerful greenhouse gas, and increasing SOC may influence N2O emissions, likely causing an increase in many cases, thus tending to offset the climate change benefit from increased SOC storage. Here, we review the main agricultural management options for increasing SOC stocks. We evaluate the amount of SOC that can be stored as well as resulting changes in N2O emissions to better estimate the climate benefits of these management options. Based on quantitative data obtained from published meta‐analyses and from our current level of understanding, we conclude that the climate mitigation induced by increased SOC storage is generally overestimated if associated N2O emissions are not considered but, with the exception of reduced tillage, is never fully offset. Some options (e.g, biochar or non‐pyrogenic C amendment application) may even decrease N2O emissions.

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The relatively poor simulation of the below-ground processes is a severe drawback for many ecosystem models, especially when predicting responses to climate change and management. For a meaningful estimation of ecosystem production and the cycling of water, energy, nutrients and carbon, the integration of soil processes and the exchanges at the surface is crucial. It is increasingly recognized that soil biota play an important role in soil organic carbon and nutrient cycling, shaping soil structure and hydrological properties through their activity, and in water and nutrient uptake by plants through mycorrhizal processes. In this article, we review the main soil biological actors (microbiota, fauna and roots) and their effects on soil functioning. We review to what extent they have been included in soil models and propose which of them could be included in ecosystem models. We show that the model representation of the soil food web, the impact of soil ecosystem engineers on soil structure and the related effects on hydrology and soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization are key issues in improving ecosystem-scale soil representation in models. Finally, we describe a new core model concept (KEYLINK) that integrates insights from SOM models, structural models and food web models to simulate the living soil at an ecosystem scale.

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At the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO, formerly Bioforsk), biochar has been a topic of research since 2009 through both laboratory and field studies. Initial results demonstrated that biochar produced from clean biomass is safe to use on agricultural soils, and that pyrolysis temperatures of ≥370 °C are necessary for producing biochar that is resistant to decomposition on a timescale of 100 years. Further work identified the chemical transformations that are responsible for biochar stability and contributed to finding the best indicator of this stability. Throughout the years, we have had close collaboration with industry and farmers in Norway, where now industrial networks are in action and there is financial support for the implementation of biochar technology. Despite the convincing benefits of biochar as a climate mitigation solution, it has only slowly advanced beyond the research stage, notably because its effect on yield are too modest. There is therefore a need for win-win biochar solutions benefiting both food production and climate mitigation. Such a solution is the development of biochar fertilizers, which capitalizes on the capacity of biochar to capture and release nutrients. As biochar properties largely depend on pyrolysis conditions and feedstock properties, our current work contributes to the selective design of biochars for the purpose of improving nutrient use efficiency.

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Mediterranean climate areas are home to highly relevant and distinctive agro-ecosystems, where sustainability is threatened by water scarcity and continuous loss of soil organic carbon. In these systems, recycling strategies to close the loop between crop production (and agrorelated industries) and soil conservation are of special interest in the current context of climate change mitigation. Pyrolysis represents a recycling option for the production of energy and biochar, a carbonaceous product with a wide range of environmental and agronomic applications. Considering that biochar functionality depends on both the original biomass and the pyrolysis conditions, we produced and characterized 22 biochars in order to evaluate their potential to sequester C and modify soil physicochemical properties. The pore size distribution was a function of the original biomass and did not change with the temperature of pyrolysis. The highest number of pores within the size 0.2−30 μm, relevant for plant available water retention, was reached at 600 °C. However, ideal pyrolysis conditions to optimize C stability and hydrologic properties was reached at 400 °C in woody derived biochars, as higher temperatures lead to a nontransient hydrophobicity. This study highlights relevant physicochemical properties of locally derived biochars that can be used to tackle specific challenges in Mediterranean agroecosystems.

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Background: Global warming is going to affect both agricultural production and carbon storage in soil worldwide. Given the complexity of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, in situ experiments of climate warming are necessary to predict responses of plants and emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) from soils. Arrays of infrared (IR) heaters have been successfully applied in temperate and tropical agro-ecosystems to produce uniform and large increases in canopy surface temperature across research plots. Because this method had not yet been tested in the Arctic where consequences of global warming on GHG emission are expected to be largest, the objective of this work was to test hexagonal arrays of IR heaters to simulate a homogenous 3 °C warming of the surface, i.e. canopy and visible bare soil, of five 10.5-m2 plots in an Arctic meadow of northern Norway. Results: Our results show that the IR warming setup was able to simulate quite accurately the target + 3 °C, thereby enabling us to simulate the extension of the growing season. Meadow yield increased under warming but only through the lengthening of the growing season. Our research also suggests that, when investigating agricultural systems on the Arctic, it is important to start the warming after the vegetation is established,. Indeed, differential emergence of meadow plants impaired the homogeneity of the warming with patches of bare soil being up to 9.5 °C warmer than patches of vegetation. This created a pattern of soil crusting, which further induced spatial heterogeneity of the vegetation. However, in the Arctic these conditions are rather rare as the soil exposed by snow melt is often covered by a layer of senescent vegetation which shelters the soil from direct radiation. Conclusions: Consistent continuous warming can be obtained on average with IR systems in an Arctic meadow, but homogenous spatial distribution requires that the warming must start after canopy closure.

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There is growing international interest in better managing soils to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) content to contribute to climate change mitigation, to enhance resilience to climate change and to underpin food security, through initiatives such as international ‘4p1000’ initiative and the FAO's Global assessment of SOC sequestration potential (GSOCseq) programme. Since SOC content of soils cannot be easily measured, a key barrier to implementing programmes to increase SOC at large scale, is the need for credible and reliable measurement/monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) platforms, both for national reporting and for emissions trading. Without such platforms, investments could be considered risky. In this paper, we review methods and challenges of measuring SOC change directly in soils, before examining some recent novel developments that show promise for quantifying SOC. We describe how repeat soil surveys are used to estimate changes in SOC over time, and how long‐term experiments and space‐for‐time substitution sites can serve as sources of knowledge and can be used to test models, and as potential benchmark sites in global frameworks to estimate SOC change. We briefly consider models that can be used to simulate and project change in SOC and examine the MRV platforms for SOC change already in use in various countries/regions. In the final section, we bring together the various components described in this review, to describe a new vision for a global framework for MRV of SOC change, to support national and international initiatives seeking to effect change in the way we manage our soils.

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En økning i karbonlagring i landbruksjord er angitt som et viktig klimatiltak både internasjonalt og i Norge. Tiltaket er godt begrunnet: Jorden inneholder to til tre ganger så mye karbon som atmosfæren, noe som innebærer at relative små endringer i innhold av karbon i jord kan ha betydelige effekter på CO2-innholdet i atmosfæren og det globale klimaet. Det er godt dokumentert at intensive jordbruksmetoder har ført til en reduksjon i jordkarbon og derfor ønskes det en reversering av denne trenden (dvs. økt karbonbinding i jord), som tiltak både for klima og matproduksjon. I denne rapporten er det gjort vurderinger av hvordan dette kan gjøres i Norge og hvilken klimaeffekt som kan oppnås...

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Biochar has been shown to reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from soils, but the effect is highly variable across studies and the mechanisms are under debate. To improve our mechanistic understanding of biochar effects on N2O emission, we monitored kinetics of NO, N2O and N2 accumulation in anoxic slurries of a peat and a mineral soil, spiked with nitrate and amended with feedstock dried at 105 °C and biochar produced at 372, 416, 562 and 796 °C at five different doses. Both soils accumulated consistently less N2O and NO in the presence of high-temperature chars (BC562 and BC796), which stimulated reduction of denitrification intermediates to N2, particularly in the acid peat. This effect appeared to be strongly linked to the degree of biochar carbonisation as predicted by the H:C ratio of the char. In addition, biochar surface area and pH were identified as important factors, whereas ash content and CEC played a minor role. At low pyrolysis temperature, the biochar effect was soil dependent, suppressing N2O accumulation in the mineral soil, but enhancing it in the peat soil. This contrast was likely due to the labile carbon content of low temperature chars, which contributed to immobilise N in the mineral soil, but stimulated denitrification and N2O emission in the peat soil. We conclude that biochar with a high degree of carbonisation, high pH and high surface area is best suited to supress N2O emission from denitrification, while low temperature chars risk supporting incomplete denitrification.

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Biochar is a carbon-rich material that, due to its inherent resistance to decomposition, is primarily developed with the aim of sequestering carbon in soil. Despite the convincing benefits of biochar as a climate mitigation solution, it has not yet advanced much beyond the research stage, notably because its effect on yield are too modest. Therefore, there is a need for win-win biochar solutions benefiting both food production and climate mitigation. Such a solution is the development of biochar fertilizers, which capitalizes on the capacity of biochar to capture and release nutrients. This effect is largely attributed to the porous structure and large surface area of biochar, with surface charges and ash content also appearing to play a role. The nutrient-retaining capacity of biochar appears to vary among studies investigating different types of biochar exposed to different types of nutrients (mineral anions and cations, organic molecules) under different conditions. In the present study, we will report on a meta-analysis of published biochar properties that are associated with controlling the sorption of nutrients. As biochar properties largely depend on pyrolysis conditions and feedstock properties, this work contributes to the selective design of biochars for the purpose of improving nutrient use efficiency.

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Norway is strongly committed to the Paris Climate Agreement with an ambitious goal of 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2030. The land sector, including agriculture and forestry, must critically contribute to this national target. Beyond emission reduction, the land sector has the unique capacity to actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere through biological carbon storage in biomass and in soils. Soils are the largest reservoir of terrestrial carbon, and relatively small changes in soil carbon content can have an amplified mitigation effect on the Earth’s climate. Therefore, improved management of soils for carbon storage is receiving a lot of attention, for example through international political initiatives such as the “4-permill” initiative. However, in Norway, many mitigation measures targeting soil carbon might negatively impact food production and economic activity. For example, soil carbon storage can be increased by shifting from cereal crop production to grasslands, but Norway already has abundant grassland and a comparatively small area dedicated to cereals. Another such issue is cultivation on drained peatland, where food is produced at the expense of large losses of soil carbon as CO2 to the atmosphere. Therefore, there is a need to look for win-win solutions for soil carbon storage, which benefit both food production and climate mitigation. Large-scale conversion of agricultural and forest waste biomass to biochar is such an option, and is considered the activity with the largest potential for soil carbon sequestration in Norway. Biochar has been demonstrated to have a mean residence time exceeding 100 years in Norwegian field conditions (Rasse et al, 2017), and no negative effects on plant and soils has been observed. However, despite the convincing benefits of biochar as a climate mitigation solution, it has not yet advanced much beyond the research stage, notably because its effect on yield are too modest. Here, we will first present the comparative advantage of biochar technology as compared to traditional agronomy methods for large-scale C storage in Norwegian agricultural soils. We will further discuss the need for developing innovations in pyrolysis and nutrient-rich waste recycling leading to biochar-fertilizer products as win-win solution for carbon storage and food production.

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The application of biochar to soils is a promising technique for increasing soil organic C and offsetting GHG emissions. However, large-scale adoption by farmers will likely require the proof of its utility to improve plant growth and soil quality. In this context, we conducted a four-year field experiment between October 2010 to October 2014 on a fertile silty clay loam Albeluvisol in Norway to assess the impact of biochar on soil physical properties, soil microbial biomass, and oat and barley yield. The following treatments were included: Control (soil), miscanthus biochar 8 t C ha1 (BC8), miscanthus straw feedstock 8 t C ha1 (MC8), and miscanthus biochar 25 t C ha1 (BC25). Average volumetric water content at field capacity was significantly higher in BC25 when compared to the control due to changes in BD and total porosity. The biochar amendment had no effect on soil aggregate (2–6 mm) stability, pore size distribution, penetration resistance, soil microbial biomass C and N, and basal respiration. Biochar did not alter crop yields of oat and barley during the four growing seasons. In order to realize biochar’s climate mitigation potential, we suggest future research and development efforts should focus on improving the agronomic utility of biochar in engineered fertilizer and soil amendment products.

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Peatlands store substantial amounts of carbon and are vulnerable to climate change. We present a modified version of the Organising Carbon and Hydrology In Dynamic Ecosystems (ORCHIDEE) land surface model for simulating the hydrology, surface energy, and CO2 fluxes of peatlands on daily to annual timescales. The model includes a separate soil tile in each 0.5° grid cell, defined from a global peatland map and identified with peat-specific soil hydraulic properties. Runoff from non-peat vegetation within a grid cell containing a fraction of peat is routed to this peat soil tile, which maintains shallow water tables. The water table position separates oxic from anoxic decomposition. The model was evaluated against eddy-covariance (EC) observations from 30 northern peatland sites, with the maximum rate of carboxylation (Vcmax) being optimized at each site. Regarding short-term day-to-day variations, the model performance was good for gross primary production (GPP) (r2 =  0.76; Nash–Sutcliffe modeling efficiency, MEF  =  0.76) and ecosystem respiration (ER, r2 =  0.78, MEF  =  0.75), with lesser accuracy for latent heat fluxes (LE, r2 =  0.42, MEF  =  0.14) and and net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE, r2 =  0.38, MEF  =  0.26). Seasonal variations in GPP, ER, NEE, and energy fluxes on monthly scales showed moderate to high r2 values (0.57–0.86). For spatial across-site gradients of annual mean GPP, ER, NEE, and LE, r2 values of 0.93, 0.89, 0.27, and 0.71 were achieved, respectively. Water table (WT) variation was not well predicted (r2 < 0.1), likely due to the uncertain water input to the peat from surrounding areas. However, the poor performance of WT simulation did not greatly affect predictions of ER and NEE. We found a significant relationship between optimized Vcmax and latitude (temperature), which better reflects the spatial gradients of annual NEE than using an average Vcmax value.

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Sammendrag: Denne rapporten gir en oppdatert oversikt over tiltakspotensiale for tiltak som jordbruket kan iverksette for å redusere klimagassutslipp. Det er tiltak innen dagens produksjonsystemer og struktur som er vektlagt. Det er sammenlignet med vurderinger gjort i rapporten «Landbruk og klimaendringer» fra 2016. Effekt av tiltak, gjennomføringsgrad og forutsetninger for gjennomføring til 2030 er prioritert.

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Extreme winter events that damage vegetation are considered an important climatic cause of arctic browning—a reversal of the greening trend of the region—and possibly reduce the carbon uptake of northern ecosystems. Confirmation of a reduction in CO2 uptake due to winter damage, however, remains elusive due to a lack of flux measurements from affected ecosystems. In this study, we report eddy covariance fluxes of CO2 from a peatland in northern Norway and show that vegetation CO2 uptake was delayed and reduced in the summer of 2014 following an extreme winter event earlier that year. Strong frost in the absence of a protective snow cover—its combined intensity unprecedented in the local climate record—caused severe dieback of the dwarf shrub species Calluna vulgaris and Empetrum nigrum. Similar vegetation damage was reported at the time along ~1000 km of coastal Norway, showing the widespread impact of this event. Our results indicate that gross primary production (GPP) exhibited a delayed response to temperature following snowmelt. From snowmelt up to the peak of summer, this reduced carbon uptake by 14 (0–24) g C m−2 (~12% of GPP in that period)—similar to the effect of interannual variations in summer weather. Concurrently, remotely-sensed NDVI dropped to the lowest level in more than a decade. However, bulk photosynthesis was eventually stimulated by the warm and sunny summer, raising total GPP. Species other than the vulnerable shrubs were probably resilient to the extreme winter event. The warm summer also increased ecosystem respiration, which limited net carbon uptake. This study shows that damage from a single extreme winter event can have an ecosystem-wide impact on CO2 uptake, and highlights the importance of including winter-induced shrub damage in terrestrial ecosystem models to accurately predict trends in vegetation productivity and carbon sequestration in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

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Agriculture and land use change has significantly increased atmospheric emissions of the non-CO2 green-house gases (GHG) nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). Since human nutritional and bioenergy needs continue to increase, at a shrinking global land area for production, novel land management strategies are required that reduce the GHG footprint per unit of yield. Here we review the potential of biochar to reduce N2O and CH4 emissions from agricultural practices including potential mechanisms behind observed effects. Furthermore, we investigate alternative uses of biochar in agricultural land management that may significantly reduce the GHG-emissions-per-unit-of-product footprint, such as (i) pyrolysis of manures as hygienic alternative to direct soil application, (ii) using biochar as fertilizer carrier matrix for underfoot fertilization, biochar use (iii) as composting additive or (iv) as feed additive in animal husbandry or for manure treatment. We conclude that the largest future research needs lay in conducting life-cycle GHG assessments when using biochar as an on-farm management tool for nutrient-rich biomass waste streams.

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Infrared and 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopies and benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCA) analysis were used to characterize the structural changes occurring during slow pyrolysis of corncob and Miscanthus at different temperatures from 235 °C to 800 °C. In the case of corncob, a char sample obtained from flash carbonization was also investigated. Spectroscopic techniques gave detailed information on the transformations of the different biomass components, whereas BPCA analysis allowed the amount of aromatic structures present in the different chars and the degree of aromatic condensation to be determined. The results showed that above 500 °C both corncob and Miscanthus give polyaromatic solid residues with similar degree of aromatic condensation but with differences in the structure. On the other hand, at lower temperatures, char composition was observed to depend on the different cellulose/hemicellulose/lignin ratios in the feedstocks. Flash carbonization was found to mainly affect the degree of aromatic condensation.

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Evaluating biochars for their persistence in soil under field conditions is an important step towards their implementation for carbon sequestration. Current evaluations might be biased because the vast majority of studies are short-term laboratory incubations of biochars produced in laboratory-scale pyrolyzers. Here our objective was to investigate the stability of a biochar produced with a medium-scale pyrolyzer, first through laboratory characterization and stability tests and then through field experiment. We also aimed at relating properties of this medium-scale biochar to that of a laboratory-made biochar with the same feedstock. Biochars were made of Miscanthus biomass for isotopic C-tracing purposes and produced at temperatures between 600 and 700°C. The aromaticity and degree of condensation of aromatic rings of the medium-scale biochar was high, as was its resistance to chemical oxidation. In a 90-day laboratory incubation, cumulative mineralization was 0.1% for the medium-scale biochar vs. 45% for the Miscanthus feedstock, pointing to the absence of labile C pool in the biochar. These stability results were very close to those obtained for biochar produced at laboratory-scale, suggesting that upscaling from laboratory to medium-scale pyrolyzers had little effect on biochar stability. In the field, the medium-scale biochar applied at up to 25 t C ha-1 decomposed at an estimated 0.8% per year. In conclusion, our biochar scored high on stability indices in the laboratory and displayed a mean residence time > 100 years in the field, which is the threshold for permanent removal in C sequestration projects.

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Increased mineralization of the organic matter (OM) stored in permafrost is expected to constitute the largest additional global warming potential from terrestrial ecosystems exposed to a warmer climate. Chemical composition of permafrost OM is thought to be a key factor controlling the sensitivity of decomposition to warming. Our objective was to characterise OM from permafrost soils of the European Arctic: two mineral soils—Adventdalen, Svalbard, Norway and Vorkuta, northwest Russia— and a ‘‘palsa’’ (ice-cored peat mound patterning in heterogeneous permafrost landscapes) soil in Neiden, northern Norway, in terms of molecular composition and state of decomposition. At all sites, the OM stored in the permafrost was at an advanced stage of decomposition, although somewhat less so in the palsa peat. By comparing permafrost and active layers, we found no consistent effect of depth or permafrost on soil organic matter (SOM) chemistry across sites. The permafrost-affected palsa peat displayed better preservation of plant material in the deeper layer, as indicated by increasing contribution of lignin carbon to total carbon with depth, associated to decreasing acid (Ac) to aldehyde (Al) ratio of the syringyl (S) and vanillyl (V) units, and increasing S/V and contribution of plant-derived sugars. By contrast, in Adventdalen, the Ac/Al ratio of lignin and the Alkyl C to O-alkyl C ratio in the NMR spectra increased with depth, which suggests less oxidized SOM in the active layer compared to the permafrost layer. In Vorkuta, SOM characteristics in the permafrost profile did not change substantially with depth, probably due to mixing of soil layers by cryoturbation. The composition and state of decomposition of SOM appeared to be site-specific, in particular bound to the prevailing organic or mineral nature of soil when attempting to predict the SOM proneness to degradation. The occurrence of processes such as palsa formation in organic soils and cryoturbation should be considered when up-scaling and predicting the responses of OM to climate change in arctic soils.

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Biochar and its properties can be significantly altered according to how it is produced, and this has ramifications towards how biochar behaves once added to soil. We produced biochars from corncob and miscanthus straw via different methods (slow pyrolysis, hydrothermal and flash carbonization) and temperatures to assess how carbon cycling and soil microbial communities were affected. Mineralization of biochar, its parent feedstock, and native soil organic matter were monitored using 13C natural abundance during a 1-year lab incubation. Bacterial and fungal community compositions were studied using T-RFLP and ARISA, respectively. We found that persistent biochar-C with a half-life 60 times higher than the parent feedstock can be achieved at pyrolysis temperatures of as low as 370 °C, with no further gains to be made at higher temperatures. Biochar re-applied to soil previously incubated with our highest temperature biochar mineralized faster than when applied to unamended soil. Positive priming of native SOC was observed for all amendments but subsided by the end of the incubation. Fungal and bacterial community composition of the soil-biochar mixture changed increasingly with the application of biochars produced at higher temperatures as compared to unamended soil. Those changes were significantly (P < 0.005) related to biochar properties (mainly pH and O/C) and thus were correlated to pyrolysis temperature. In conclusion, our results suggest that biochar produced at temperatures as low as 370 °C can be utilized to sequester C in soil for more than 100 years while having less impact on soil microbial activities than high-temperature biochars.

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The water management system of cultivated paddy rice soils is one of the most important factors affecting the respective magnitudes of CH4 and N2O emissions. We hypothesized an effect of past management on soil microbial communities and greenhouse gas (GHG) production potential. The ob- jectives of this study were to i) assess the influence of water management history on GHG production and microbial community structure, ii) relate GHG production to the microbial communities involved in CH4 and N2O production inhabiting the different soils. Moreover, the influence of different soil condi- tioning procedures on GHG production was determined. To reach these aims, we compared four soils with different water management history, using dried and sieved, pre-incubated and fresh soils. Soil conditioning procedures strongly affected GHG production: drying and sieving induced the highest production rates and the largest differences among soil types, probably through the release of labile substrates. Conversely, soil pre-incubation tended to homogenize and level out the differences among soils. The water management history strongly affected microbial community structure, which was itself tightly linked to CH4 and N2O production. N2O production was the highest in aerobic soil, which also exhibited the strongest evidence for active nitrifying communities (NirK). Drying and rewetting aerobic soil enhanced the production of nitrate, which was further reduced to N2O through denitrification. As expected, CH4 production was the lowest in aerobic soil, which showed a less abundant archaeal com- munity. This work supports the hypothesis that microbial communities in paddy soils progressively adapt to water management practices, thereby reinforcing potential differences in GHGs production.

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Biochar is a carbon-rich solid product obtained by pyrolysis of biomass. Here, we investigated multiple biochars produced under slow pyrolysis (235–800 °C), flash carbonization, and hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), using Scanning Electron Microscope—Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) in order to determine whether SEM-EDX can be used as a proxy to characterize biochars effectively. Morphological analysis showed that feedstock has an integrated structure compared to biochar; more pores were generated, and the size became smaller when the temperature increased. Maximum carbon content (max. C) and average carbon content (avg. C) obtained from SEM-EDX exhibited a positive relationship with pyrolysis temperature, with max. C correlating most closely with dry combustion total carbon content. The SEM-EDX O/C ratios displayed a consistent response with the highest treatment temperature (HTT). The study suggests that SEM-EDX produces highly consistent C, oxygen (O), and C/O ratios that deserve further investigation as an operational tool for characterization of biochar products.

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Greenhouse gas exchange between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere are an important element of the climate system. Especially boreal and polar wetlands and peatlands may play a crucial role for the future development of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations, because they contain stores of these gases in the same order of magnitude as the current atmospheric load. The aim of this project was to estimate the fluxes of CO2 and CH4 from an oceanic wetland in North‐Norway. Seven years of observations reveal that carbon exchange from this ecosystem is comparable to that of moderate zone coastal wetlands, but distinctly different from alpine and continental wetlands at the same latitude in Sweden and Finland. The seven‐year record of meteorological data reveals that the observed period was significantly warmer (especially during winter) and drier (especially in summer) than the climate reference period 1961‐1990. Carbon fluxes during the growing season are sensitive to both draught, cold spells and soil climate conditions before the onset of the growing season, but the annual Net Ecosystem Exchange is much less variable.

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Northern peatlands hold large amounts of organic carbon (C) in their soils and are as such important in a climate change context. Blanket bogs, i.e. nutrient-poor peatlands restricted to maritime climates, may be extra vulnerable to global warming since they require a positive water balance to sustain their moss dominated vegetation andCsink functioning. This study presents a 4.5 year record of land– atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange from the Andøya blanket bog in northern Norway. Compared with other peatlands, the Andøya peatland exhibited low flux rates, related to the low productivity of the dominating moss and lichen communities and the maritime settings that attenuated seasonal temperature variations. It was observed that under periods of high vapour pressure deficit, net ecosystem exchange was reduced, which was mainly caused by a decrease in gross primary production. However, no persistent effects of dry conditions on theCO2 exchange dynamics were observed, indicating that under present conditions and within the range of observed meteorological conditions the Andøya blanket bog retained its Cuptake function. Continued monitoring of these ecosystem types is essential in order to detect possible effects of a changing climate. peatland, carbon, blanket bog, eddy covariance, climate change, net ecosystem exchange

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Studies examining the effect of biochar on N2O turnover in soil have demonstrated that biochar affects both the rate and product ratio of denitrification. The mechanisms proposed include pH effects on N2O reductase , sorption of N2O and electron shuttling to N2O reductases. Recent studies suggest that pyrolysis alters the redox chemistry of biochar leading to the formation of redox active compounds which are thought to mediate the observed suppression of N2O in biochar amended soil. Redox active components however may not only be of significance to biological processes but also catalyze abiotic reactions of N-species which could confound the estimation of biological effects. Here we report experiments designed to examined abiotic interaction between biochar and NO in anoxic water slurries with biochar of increasing pyrolysis temperature. We determined the fate of NO added to the headspace of closed anoxic bottles using high frequency measurements of NO, N2O and N2. Our initial results show a swift disappearance of added NO which can not entirely be attributed to sorption to the biochar. Small but constant quantities of N2O were generated after NO addition indicating abiotic turnover of NO by biochar. NO is an important signal molecule in the regulation of denitrification and hence it is important to elucidate possible abiotic feedbacks of NO reactions in soil. The results will be discussed relative to the redox properties of the biochars tested.

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Precise methods for the detection of geologically stored CO2within and above soil surfaces are an impor-tant component of the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) under terrestrial environments.Although CO2leaks are not expected in well-chosen and operated storage sites, monitoring is required bylegislation and any leakage needs to be quantified under the EU Emissions Trading Directive. The objec-tive of the present research was to test if13C stable isotope motoring of soil and canopy atmosphere CO2increases our detection sensitivity for CCS-CO2as compared with concentration monitoring only. A CO2injection experiment was designed to create a horizontal CO2gradient across 6 m × 3 m plots, which weresown with oats in 2011 and 2012. Injected CO2was methane derived and had an isotopic signature of−46.2‰. The CO2concentrations were measured within the soil profile with passive samplers and at sev-eral heights within the crop canopies. The CO2fluxes and their13C signatures were also measured acrossthe experimental plots. In situ monitoring and gas samples measurements were conducted with a cavityring down spectrometer (CRDS). The plots displayed hot spots of injected-CO2leakage clearly detectableby either concentration or isotopic signature measurements. In addition, the13C signature measurementsallow us to detect injected CO2in plot regions where its presence could not be unequivocally ascertainedbased on concentration measurement alone.

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Globally, soil organic matter (SOM) contains more than three times as much carbon as either the atmosphere or terrestrial vegetation. Yet it remains largely unknown why some SOM persists for millennia whereas other SOM decomposes readily—and this limits our ability to predict how soils will respond to climate change. Recent analytical and experimental advances have demonstrated that molecular structure alone does not control SOM stability: in fact, environmental and biological controls predominate. Here we propose ways to include this understanding in a new generation of experiments and soil carbon models, thereby improving predictions of the SOM response to global warming.

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The aliphatic biopolyesters cutins and suberins have been suggested to significantly contribute to the stable pool of soil organic matter (SOM), and to be tracers for the above- or belowground origin of plant material. Contrary to other plant-derived aliphatic molecules found in the lipid fraction of soils, the stable isotope derived estimates of turnover of cutins and suberins have never been studied in soils. The aim of this study was to analyse the dynamics of shoot- and root-derived biomarkers in soils using a wheat and maize (C3/C4) chronosequence, where changes in the natural 13C abundance can be used to evaluate the incorporation of new carbon into SOM at the molecular level. The relative distribution of aliphatic monomers in wheat and maize roots and shoots suggested that a,u-alkanedioic acids can be considered as root-specific markers and mid-chain hydroxy acids as shoot-specific markers. The contrasting distribution of the plant-specific monomers in plants and soils might be explained by different chemical mechanisms leading to selective degradation or stabilization of some biomarkers. The changes of the 13C isotopic signatures of these markers with years of maize cropping after wheat evidenced their contrasted behaviour in soil. After 12 years of maize cropping, shoot markers present in soil samples probably originated from old C3 vegetation suggesting that new maize cutin added to soils was mostly degraded within a year. The reasons for long-term stabilization of shoot biomarkers remain unclear. By contrast, maize root markers were highly incorporated into SOM during the first six years of maize crop, which suggested a selective preservation of root biomass when compared to shoots, possibly due to physical protection.

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The molecular composition of plant residues is suspected to largely govern the fate of their constitutive carbon (C) in soils. Labile compounds, such as metabolic carbohydrates, are affected differently from recalcitrant and structural compounds by soil-C stabilisation mechanisms. Producing 13C-enriched plant residues with specifically labeled fractions would help us to investigate the fate in soils of the constitutive C of these compounds. The objective of the present research was to test 13C pulse chase labeling as a method for specifically enriching the metabolic carbohydrate components of plant residues, i.e. soluble sugars and starch. Bean plants were exposed to a 13CO2-enriched atmosphere for 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 21 h. The major soluble sugars were then determined on watersoluble extracts, and starch on HCl-hydrolysable extracts. The results show a quick differential labeling between water-soluble and water-insoluble compounds. For both groups, 13C-labeling increased linearly with time. The difference in δ13C signature between water-soluble and insoluble fractions was 7% after 0.5 h and 70% after 21 h. However, this clear isotopic contrast masked a substantial labeling variability within each fraction. By contrast, metabolic carbohydrates on the one hand (i.e. soluble sugarsRstarch) and other fractions (essentially cell wall components) on the other hand displayed quite homogeneous signatures within fractions, and a significant difference in labeling between fractions: δ13C=414±3.7% and 56±5.5%, respectively. Thus, the technique generates labeled plant residues displaying contrasting 13C-isotopic signatures between metabolic carbohydrates and other compounds, with homogenous signatures within each group. Metabolic carbohydrates being labile compounds, our findings suggest that the technique is particularly appropriate for investigating the effect of compound lability on the long-term storage of their constitutive C in soils.

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Incomplete combustion during vegetation fire can lead to the conversion of plant and soil organic matter (OM) into charcoal. The thermally altered OM is considered to contribute to the stable pool of soil C. Most of the data on thermal alteration of plant material were obtained in the laboratory, whereas fire consequences on ecosystem C storage calls for data collected in natural-fire conditions. The objective of this study was to relate the quality of visually-identified litter charcoal and the temperature recorded during a scrubland prescribed fire. Litter was sampled before and after the fire along a transect in the 30 ha experimental site. Litter-size fractions were analyzed for chemical composition and properties by elementary and isotopic analysis, solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and quantification of oxidation-resistant pyrogenic C. The maximum temperature reached within the litter layer during fire was assessed with thermo-sensitive paints. Our results showed that fire had little effect on bulk litter composition because the fire event induced a large litter fall of both charred and non-charred material, resulting in the impossibility to distinguish new-litter-input and charring processes. As a consequence, the visual identification and separation of burned and unburned material constituted an essential preliminary step for chemical characterization of thermally altered organic matter. Fire temperatures ranged from 370 to 650°C. Charring signifi- cantly increased the litter C concentration by 115 to 142 mg g"1 under the effects of dehydration and aromatization processes occurring above 370°C. A significant correlation appeared between the production of aromatic structures, the decrease of O-alkyl C contribution and the temperature. The relationship between the maximum temperatures reached during the natural fire and the chemical transformation of the litter organic matter appeared highly consistent with previous results obtained under controlled conditions. Heating also led to a significant decrease of the 13C that we interpret as a higher thermal sensitivity of 13C-rich molecules. The elemental composition, NMR and thermal spectra are consistent with the low oxidation-resistant C concentration of this natural charcoal (16±5 % OC), reflecting a low condensation degree compared to graphitic-like model. These findings suggest that leaf-derived charcoal produced during natural vegetation fire may have a lower C storage potential than previously assumed.

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Vegetation fire is the worldwide disturbance that affects the largest area and biggest biomes variety. Fire instantaneously generates large C fluxes to the atmosphere, as gas and soot particles. In the same time, part of ecosystem organic matter (OM) is converted into charred material that may contribute to the stable pool of soil organic carbon (SOC). The net effect of vegetation fire on C sequestration remains uncertain because the two major impacts operate at very different timescales and C budget is highly dependent on ecosystem and fire conditions. The aim of the present research was to assess fire-induced C fluxes to the atmosphere and as new litter and charcoal production during a prescribed fire in a subtropical oak shrub. Pre-fire biomass and post-fire charred and unburned biomass were determined for vegetation leaves and stems, litter and soil in 20 sub-plots installed in a 30-ha area prescribed for fire. Concentrations of C were determined, and fluxes among pools and to the atmosphere were derived from these measurements. In a first assessment, charred OM was visually identified in standing biomass and litter using its black and shiny aspect. In a second step, a strong chemical oxidation with K2Cr2O7/H2SO4 was used to isolate only a highly recalcitrant part of pyrogenic C. After the fire, standing dead biomass was only composed of stems with charred surface. The leaves transferred from vegetation to litter during the fire represented more than a half of post-fire litter. Percentage of initial C pool that was lost to the atmosphere as gas or particles was 55 % from vegetation stems, 80 % from vegetation leaves, and 70 % from litter. Soil C stocks were not significantly modified by fire, in agreement with moderate temperature elevation in the soil proper. Total C release to the atmosphere, including gas and particles, was 2.6 kg C m"2. Visually-identified charcoal represented 5% of remaining stem C (i.e. 60 g C m"2) and 21% of post-fire litter C (i.e. 80 g C m"2). The stem and litter charcoal contained 4±4 % and 16±5 % of highly recalcitrant C, respectively. We assessed that a typical scrubland fire may add between 10 and 140 g C m"2of chemically stable pyrogenic C to the soil. The conversion rate of ecosystem C to chemically stable pyrogenic C would be between 0.2 and 3.4 %.

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Carbon dioxide and methane -besides water vapor the most powerful greenhouse gases - have been increasing rapidly in recent decades. A huge reservoir of both gases is stored in boreal soils including permafrost, and a major change in the carbon balance of this reservoir might have dramatic impacts on future climate change. So far, Norway has lacked any infrastructure to assess fluxes of both gases from unique boreal ecosystems, e.g., sub-arctic peatlands exposed to oceanic climate. In spring 2008, Bioforsk, SERC and NILU started an initiative to fill this gap by establishing a flux tower station in the Dverberg peatlands on the island of Andøya in Northern Norway. The site is especially suited for such studies, because it extends an existing flux measurement infrastructure in Abisko, N-Sweden and Sodankylä, N-Finland to include an ecosystem with comparatively mild climate, compared to the Alpine Arctic climate of Abisko and the continental- subarctic climate of Sodankylä.

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I denne rapporten er det gitt en litteraturoversikt over hovedprinsippene for binding og tap av karbon fra dyrket jord og de viktigste faktorene som styrer karboninnholdet i jord. På grunnlag av kartlegging utført av Norsk institutt for skog og landskap er det gjort en beregning av karboninnhold og karbonmengder i dyrket jord i Norge fordelt på hovedgrupper av mineraljord og organisk jord. Endringer av karboninnhold i jord i Skandinavia er diskutert på grunnlag av forsøk og praktisk drift. Muligheter og potensial for binding av karbon i Norge er gjort på grunnlag norsk og utenlandsk forskning samt beregninger av status for nåværende karboninnhold.

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Recent in situ 13C studies suggest that lignin is not stabilised in soil in its polymerised form. However, the fate of its transformation products remains unknown. The objective of the present research was to provide the first comprehensive picture of the fate of lignin-derived C across its transformations processes: (1) C remaining as undecomposed lignin molecules, (2) C in newly formed humic substances, i.e. no longer identifiable as lignin-polymer C, (3) C in microbial biomass, (4) C mineralised as CO2, and (5) dissolved organic C. To achieve this objective, we designed an incubation experiment with 13C-labelled lignin where both elementary and molecular techniques were applied. Lignin was isolated from 13C labelled maize plants (13C-MMEL) and incubated in an agricultural soil for 44 weeks. Carbon mineralisation and stable isotope composition of the released CO2 were monitored throughout the incubation. Microbial utilisation of 13C-MMEL was measured seven times during the experiment. The turnover rate of the lignin polymer was assessed by 13C analysis of CuO oxidation products of soil lignin molecules. After 44 incubation weeks, 6.0% of initial 13C-MMEL carbon was mineralised, 0.8% was contained in the microbial biomass, and 0.1% was contained in dissolved organic C form. The compound-specific 13C data suggest that the remaining 93% were overwhelmingly in the form of untransformed lignin polymer. However, limited transformation into other humic substances potentially occurred, but could not be quantified because the yield of the CuO oxidation method proved somewhat variable with incubation time. The initial bacterial growth yield efficiency for MMEL was 31% and rapidly decreased to plateau of 8%. A two-pool first-order kinetics model suggested that the vast majority (97%) of MMEL lignin had a turnover time of about 25 years, which is similar to field-estimated turnover times for soil-extractable lignin but much longer than estimated turnover times for fresh plant-residue lignin. We conclude that natural lignin structures isolated from plants are rather unreactive in soil, either due to the lack of easily available organic matter for co-metabolism or due to enhanced adsorption properties. The data also suggest that fairly undecomposed lignin structures are the main reservoir of lignin-derived C in soils.

Sammendrag

Recent in situ 13C studies suggest that lignin is not stabilised in soil in its polymerized form. However, the fate of its transformation products remains unknown. The objective of the present research was to provide the first comprehensive picture of the fate of lignin-derived C across its transformations processes: 1) C remaining as undecomposed lignin molecules, 2) C in newly formed humic substances, i.e. no longer identifiable as lignin-polymer C 3) C in microbial biomass, 4) C mineralised as CO2, and 5) dissolved organic C. To achieve this objective, we designed an incubation experiment with 13C-labelled lignin where both elementary and molecular techniques were applied. Lignin was isolated from 13C labelled maize plants (13C-MMEL) and incubated in an agricultural soil for 44 weeks. Carbon mineralisation and stable isotope composition of the released CO2 were monitored throughout the incubation. Microbial utilisation of 13C-MMEL was measured seven times during the experiment. The turnover rate of the lignin polymer was assessed by 13C analysis of CuO oxidation products of soil lignin molecules. After 44 incubation weeks, 6.0% of initial 13C-MMEL carbon was mineralized, 0.8% was contained in the microbial biomass, and 0.1% was contained in dissolved organic C form. The compound-specific 13C data suggest that the remaining 93% were overwhelmingly in the form of untransformed lignin polymer. However, limited transformation into other humic substances potentially occurred, but could not be quantified because the yield of the CuO oxidation method proved somewhat variable with incubation time. The initial bacterial growth yield efficiency for MMEL was 31% and rapidly decreased to plateau of 8%. A two-pool first-order kinetics model suggested that the vast majority (97%) of MMEL lignin had a turnover time of about 25 years, which is similar to field-estimated turnover times for soil-extractable lignin but much longer than estimated turnover times for fresh plant-residue lignin. We conclude that natural lignin structures isolated from plants are rather unreactive in soil, either due to the lack of easily available organic matter for co-metabolism or due to enhanced adsorption properties. The data also suggest that fairly undecomposed lignin structures are the main reservoir of lignin-derived C in soils.

Sammendrag

Carbon from complex and structural plant molecules has long been considered more efficiently retained in soils than that of soluble molecules. This dominant paradigm is now being challenged by data emerging from recent isotopic-labeling and compoundspecific isotopic studies. We recently demonstrated that large proportions of plantresidue lignin decompose within a year of incorporation to soils, and that soilextracted lignin has a turnover time of about 20 years (Rasse et al, 2006). In contrast, turnover time of soil-extracted polysaccharides can reach 40 years (Gleixner et al., 2002). Long-term incubation studies have shown that C from labeled glucose is better conserved in certain soil types than C from more complex molecules such as cellulose (e.g. Vinten et al, 2002). These studies suggest that the initial decomposability of plant molecules has limited impact on the long-term fate of their constitutive C in soils. Here we will present a new model where soluble molecules have a competitive advantage over structural molecules for the long-term preservation of their constitutive C in soils. Implementation of compound-specific data in quantitative soil models will also be discussed.

Sammendrag

How the chemical composition of plant biomolecules controls their dynamics in soils at the long-term scale remains largely unknown. Stabilisation mechanisms in soils might depend upon the chemical nature of organic matter. These mechanisms either involve soil mineral constituents or are related to chemical recalcitrance of specific molecules such as lignins. Physical and physico-chemical protection mechanisms may act differently on above- and belowground tissues of plants, leading to contrasting contributions of these tissues to soil organic matter (SOM). Cutins and suberins are specific for above and the belowground tissues of higher plants, respectively. Their molecular constituents can be used as biomarkers of the inputs of these plant tissues to soils. In this study, the molecular turnover of specifically plant-derived constituents in soils were estimated using compound specific isotopic tracer techniques applied to agricultural lands converted from C3 plant to C4 plant cropping. We assessed the specific residence times of lignins, cutins and suberins in soils, in order to compare the contributions of above- and belowground tissues to SOM. Lignin turnover in soil was faster than that of total organic carbon. Contrasting dynamics in soils were observed among lignin monomers as well as among cutin/suberin markers, which might be related to their chemical nature, their position into the polymeric structure and/or to the plant tissue in which they are present. This study, combining compound specific isotope measurements with a long term field trial helped understanding soil carbon turnover on a molecular level.

Sammendrag

available, especially in Norway. The objective of the present research was to estimate C losses from cultivated peatlands in West Norway by three independent methods: 1) long-term monitoring of subsidence rates, 2) changes in ash contents, and 3) soil CO2 flux measurements. Subsidence of cultivated peat soils averaged about 2.5 cm y-1. We estimated that peat loss and compaction were respectively responsible for 38% and 62% of the total subsidence during a 25-year period after drainage. Based on this estimate the corresponding C loss equals 0.80 kg C m-2 yr-1. The observed increase in mineral concentration of the topsoil of cultivated peat is proportional to their C loss, providing no mineral particles other than lime and fertilizers are added to the soil. Using this novel approach across 11 sites, we estimated a mean C loss of 0.86 kg C m-2 y-1. Soil CO2 flux measurements, corrected for autotrophic respiration, yielded a C loss estimate from cultivated peat soils of 0.60 kg C m-2 yr-1. The three methods yielded fairly similar estimates of C losses from Norwegian cultivated peatlands. Cultivated peatlands in Norway cover an estimated 63 000 ha. Total annual C losses from peat degradation were estimated to range between 1.8 and 2 million tons CO2 y-1, which equals about 3-4 % of total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from Norway.

Sammendrag

Dynamics of soil organic matter is an important factor of soil quality. A long-standing view is that recalcitrant molecules of plant residues contribute more to long-term storage of organic carbon than more soluble plant residues. This view is currently being questioned, and parts of our recent studies will be presented that support the need for reconsideration of the topic.

Sammendrag

Fire profoundly modifies the terrestrial C cycle of about 40% of the Earth"s land surface. The immediate effect of fire is that of a net loss of C as CO2 gas and soot particles to the atmosphere. Nevertheless, a proportion of the ecosystem biomass is converted into charcoal, which contains highly recalcitrant molecular structures that contribute to long-term C storage. The present study aimed to assess simultaneously losses to the atmosphere and charcoal production rates of C and N compounds as a result of prescription fire in a Florida scrub-oak ecosystem. Pre-fire and post-fire charred and unburned organic matter stocks were determined for vegetation leaves and stems, litter and soil in 20 sub-plots installed in a 30-ha area that was subjected to prescribed fire. Concentrations of C and N were determined, and fluxes among pools and to the atmosphere were derived from these measurements. Soil C and N stocks were unchanged by the fire. Post-fire standing dead biomass contained 30% and 12% of pre-fire vegetation C and N stocks, respectively. In litter, post-fire stocks contained 64% and 83% of pre-fire C and N stocks, respectively. Most of the difference in relative losses between vegetation and litter could be attributed to substantial litter fall of charred and unburned leaves during the fire event. Indeed, an estimated 21% of pre-fire vegetation leaf C was found in the post-fire litter, while the remaining 79% was lost to the atmosphere. About 3/4 of the fire-induced leaf litter fall was in the form of unburned tissue and the remainder was charcoal, which amounted to 5% of pre-fire leaf C stocks. Charcoal production ranged between 4% and 6% of the fireaffected biomass, i.e. the sum of charcoal production and atmospheric losses. This value is below the range of literature values for the transformation of plant tissue into stable soil organic matter through humification processes, which suggests that fire generates a smaller quantity of stable organic C than humification processes over decades and potentially centuries.

Sammendrag

Little is known on the relationship between the chemical composition and the dynamics of plant biomolecules in soils at the long-term scale. Chemical recalcitrance of specific molecules such as lignins has been proposed as a possible factor governing organic matter stabilization in soils. Other stabilization mechanisms, involving soil mineral constituents, may act differently on above- and belowground tissues of plants, leading to contrasting contributions of these tissues to soil organic matter (SOM). Cutins and suberins are present respectively in the aboveground and the belowground tissues of higher plants and can be used as biomarkers of the inputs of these plant tissues to soils. Using compound specific isotopic tracer techniques applied to agricultural lands converted from C3 plant to C4 plant cropping, we followed the molecular turnover of lignins, cutins and suberins in soils, in order to assess their specific residence times, and infer the contributions of above- and belowground tissues to SOM. We showed that lignin turnover in soil is faster than that of total organic carbon. We evidenced contrasting behaviour of lignin as well as cutin/suberin monomers on a molecular basis which may be related to their chemical nature, their position into the polymeric structure and to the plant tissue in which they are present. Therefore, we suggest that compound specific isotope measurements in combination with longterm field trials could lead is understanding of soil carbon stocks and fluxes on a molecular level.

Sammendrag

Myrjord dekker 2-3 % av verdens landareal og inneholder ca en tredel av jordas lager av organisk karbon og omtrent like mye carbon som i atmosfæren. Drenering og dyrking av myr fører til en mineralisering av organisk materiale. Denne artikkelen omhandler emisjon av drivhusgasser fra dyrket myr i Nord-Norge. CO2-emisjonen økte med temperaturen, mens tilsvarende effekt ikke kunne påvises for N2O- og CH4-emisjonen. Estimert netto emisjon av drivhusgasser fra rør-grøftet myr var ca 2,2 kg for CO2, 0,03 kg for CH4 og 0,13 kg for N2O, uttrykt i CO2-ekvivalenter. Netto C-tap var ca 0,6 kg C per m2 og år. Karbontap kan derfor betraktes som jordforringelse når en tar hensyn til klimagassemisjonen. Resultatene viste betydningen av CO2-emisjonen fra dyrket myr i nord, som var ca 17 ganger høyere enn N2O-emisjonen som CO2-ekvivalenter.

Sammendrag

This document contains a summary of some techniques that can be used for CO2 monitoring considering a field laboratory site with an injection depth in the order of hundreds of meters. We will mainly focus on seismic: 3D and 4D surface seismic, acoustic image, multicomponent (MC) seismic, microseismic monitoring, boreholebased seismic, 4D cross-hole seismic surveying, 4D vertical seismic profiling (VSP); acoustic sonar bathimetry techniques; gravimetric techniques; electrical or electromagnetic techniques: electrical resistance tomography (ERT), ground penetrating radar, borehole radar, magnetotellurics; but geochemical techniques are included, like isotope methods, geochemical tracers, water chemistry. Finally, soil gas techniques and remote sensing methods area also described in this document. Storage of CO2 in geological formations is feasible on industrial scale. At the same time there is a requirement from Environmental and Health Authorities for documentation of subsurface behaviour of CO2. In this document we summarize different approaches for monitoring of subsurface migration, leakage and chemical reactions of CO2. We suggest performing studies at different scales including laboratory and field experiments. The methods we suggest has special emphasize on early detection of small amounts of CO2 migration. Of that reason the main focus of this report is on indirect geophysical monitoring (viz seismic, electrical and electromagnetic methods). To document subsurface reactions we also include geochemical methods. We suggest including ecological monitoring as an integrated part of the field experiments. Ecological monitoring will provide detection (or confirmation) of moderate CO2 leakage to the soil surface, and at the same time quantify effects on the vegetation of potentially leakages from geologically-stored CO2. In order to add value to the monitoring program, we recommend initiating simulation of monitoring experiments as early as possible in the project. Simulation of monitoring experiments should then be coupled to inverse flow simulations in order to optimize the monitoring program. Finally, monitoring of two specific field sites is suggested: The Brumunddal sandstone, and the Svelvik ridge in the outlet of the Drammensfjord. The preliminary budget for monitoring a field experiment on each side is 27.3 and 30.2 million NOK respectively. Recommendations for further work include: " Geological characterization of storage site and surrounding area. " Production of geological and numerical flow models of storage site and surrounding area. " Simulation of CO2 injection into the geological formation to identify potential migration and thus leakage points. This includes physical and chemical changes of the reservoir rock and surrounding strata. " Risk assessment to identify features, events and processes that might lead to the migration of CO2 and potential leakage. " Establish monitoring based on step 3 and 4 above. This includes monitoring of subsurface and surface area surrounding the storage site. " History matching of observations and simulation results (and if necessary modification of monitoring acquisitions).

Sammendrag

Inntill nylig har det vært liten oppmerksomhet om dyrket myr som kilde til CO2-utslipp og ingen systematisk kartlegging av C-tapet har blit foretatt. Beregneringer ved hjelp av tre forskjellige metoden tyder på at tapet kan være mellom 0,6 og 0,8 kg C m2/år,  2 - 4 million er tonn CO2/år, som er mellom 5 og 10 prosent av totalt menneskeskapt CO2-utslipp i Norge.

Sammendrag

Transient starch production is thought to exert a strong control over plant growth and response to elevated CO2. Here we tested this hypothesis with an experimentally-based mechanistic model in Arabidopsis thaliana. " Experiments were conducted on wild type (WT) of A. thaliana, starch-excess and starchless mutants under ambient- and elevated-CO2 conditions to determine parameters and validate the model. Central to the model, we experimentally demonstrated that dark respiration is directly proportional to soluble sugar concentration in A. thaliana leaves. " The model correctly predicted that: 1) mutant growth is about 20% of that of WT, and 2) absolute response of both mutants to elevated CO2 is an order of magnitude lower than that of the WT. " Our study demonstrates that effects of the diurnal starch cycle on growth can be captured by a fairly simple set of allocation equations. Our results further suggest that the maximum rate of leaf growth, and broadly the sink capacity, exert a strong control over the response to elevated CO2 of herbaceous plants such as A. thaliana.

Sammendrag

Lignin is a major plant litter compound. Due to its aromatic structure it is not easily decomposable by the soil microbial biomass and has for a long-time been considered to accumulate in soil. A recent study, however, indicated that lignin has a faster turnover than the bulk soil organic matter, suggesting that there is no long-term storage of the pristine lignin molecule in soil. Using a modelling approach we were able to show that more than 90 % of lignin deposited on the soil surface is transformed into non-lignin products. The aim of this study was to elucidate the forms of lignin derived carbon during a longterm laboratory incubation of 13C labelled lignin in soil. The conceptual approach included the extraction of lignin from a 13C labelled maize plant and its incubation under ideal conditions for 11 months. Our results show that the non-lignin products are mostly CO2, with few incorporation of lignin-derived carbon into the soil microbial biomass. We were able to detect a priming effect of soil organic matter induced by lignin addition. Analysis of the mineralisation kinetics suggested that the 13C labelled isolated lignin consisted of two compartments with different decomposition rates. One of the two compartments might be related to the presence of cellulose within the isolated lignin, which has been detected using 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy. Molecular analysis of lignin using chemolytical methods showed that lignin becomes more accessible to chemical attack in the course of incubation. Higher yields of lignin monomers were obtained after 4 month using cupric oxide oxidation as well as thioacidolysis. These results indicate that lignin degradation in soil can hardly be separated from cellulose decomposition

Sammendrag

Lignin har lenge vært antatt å være en viktig kilde for karbon i jord på grunn av sin lite nedbrytbare polyfenol-struktur i forhold til andre grupper organisk materiale. Studier av omsetning av lignin har imidlertid vist motstridende resultater og de fleste tyder på at en stor del av lignin fra planterester brytes ned i løpet av ett år etter innblanding i jord. Vi har her foreslått en to-pool modell hvor lignin i ferskt plantemateriale (Lp) enten kan opptre delvis beskyttet i jord mot videre nedbryting (Ls) eller blir omdannet til ikke-lignin produkter. Data til kalibrering av modellen ble skaffet ved hjelp av isotopanalyse av lignin spesifikk 13C fra en serie med 0-9 års ensidig maisdyrking etter hvete på en lettleire i Frankrike. Lignin ble kvantifisert ved CuO-oksidasjon som VSC-lignin, det vil si som summen av fenoltypene vanillil (V), syringyl (S) og coumaryl (C). Kalibreringene indikerte at Lp har en omsetningshastighet raskere enn ett år og at 92 % ble mineralisert til CO2 eller omdannet til andre ikke lignin-produkter, mens bare 8 % tilhørte Ls-fraksjonen. Estimert omsetningshastighet av Ls-fraksjonen var 0,05 år-1. Modellen tydet også på at om lag halvparten av Lp ikke var målt fordi det var blitt fjerne gjennom siktingen av prøven (5 mm). Som konklusjon, modellen tydet på at kjemisk bertandighet ikke er tilstrekkelig alene til å forklare omsetningen av VSC-lignin i jord, og at den mest relevante mekanismen funksjonelt synes å være overgang av VSC-ligning molekyler og fragmenter fra nedbrutt plantevev til jord-beskyttede fraksjoner.

Sammendrag

Lignin has long been suspected a major source of stable carbon in soils notably because of the recalcitrant nature of its polyphenolic structure relative to other families of plant molecules. However, lignin turnover studies have produced conflicting results, most of them suggesting that large proportions of plant-residue lignin decompose within a year of incorporation into soils. Here, we propose a two-reservoir model where lignin in undecomposed plant residue (Lp) can either reach soil fractions where it is somewhat protected from further decomposition (Ls) or is transformed to non-lignin products. Model calibration data were obtained through compound-specific 13C isotopic analyses conducted in a zero- to nine-year chronosequence of maize monoculture after wheat in a temperate loam soil of the Paris basin. Lignin was quantified by CuO oxidation as VSC-lignin, i.e., the sum of vanillil- (V), syringyl- (S) and coumaryl-type (C) phenols. Model calibrations indicate that Lp has a turnover rate faster than one year and that 92% is mineralized as CO2 or transformed into other non-lignin products, while only 8% reaches the Ls fraction. Estimated turnover rate of the Ls fraction was 0.05 yr-1. The model also suggested that about half of Lp was not measured because it had been excluded from the samples in the process of sieving at 5 mm. In conclusion, the model indicates that chemical recalcitrance alone is not sufficient to explain VSC-lignin turnover in soils, and that, functionally, the most relevant mechanism appears to be the transfer of VSC-lignin molecules and fragments from decomposing plant tissues to soil-protected fractions.

Sammendrag

Chemical recalcitrance of specific molecules is one of the factors governing organic matter stabilization in soils. Little is known about the relationship between the chemical nature and the dynamics of soil organic matter at the long-term scale. Lignin molecules are abundant in plant tissues and are generally considered as slowly biodegradable in soils. In a previous study, using compound specific isotopic tracer techniques applied to agricultural lands converted from C3 to C4 cropping, we showed that lignin turnover was faster than that of total organic carbon. Lignin dynamics was well described by a two-pool model, distinguishing lignins in fresh plant residues and those more closely associated to the soil matrix. These two pools may be transformed into non-lignin products, which includes CO2, microbial biomass and chemical substances, which are no longer recognized as lignin derivatives. The aim of the present work was to study the nature and dynamics of these non lignin products formed during lignin degradation in a laboratory incubation of 13C-labelled lignin with soil. Maize plants were grown for 1 month under 13C enriched CO2. The lignins of leaves and stems were isolated after treatment with cellulolytic enzymes and solubilization in dioxane:water (1:9). The Milled Maize Lignin (MML) obtained had a 13C abundance of 1.4 %. Solid-state 13C NMR spectroscopy of MML before analysis showed that the isolation method produces a lignin-cellulose complex, as indicated by the presence of some polysaccharides (the 60-115 ppm region represented about 40 % of total C of isolated lignins). Lignins were incubated with soil (1 mg lignin/g soil) at 20°C in sealed glass jars and analyzed after 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 48 weeks. A control sample was incubated without lignin. We monitored the mineralization, solubilization and incorporation in the microbial biomass of lignin C by measuring 13C enrichments in respired CO2, water-soluble fractions, and fumigated biomass, respectively. Lignins remaining in incubated soils were quantified by CuO oxidation and the 13C contents of vanillyl, syringyl and cinnamyl units (VSC) were measured. After 4 months, 3% of the 13C of the labelled lignin was mineralized. This mineralization rate was less than that found by Martin and Haider (1979) for DHP lignins but more than the 5% per year found in situ by Dignac et al. (2005). Less than 0.5% of incubated lignin C was water soluble and 0.5 % was incorporated into the soil microbial biomass. The main part (96%) of incubated MML remained in soil. We used compound-specific isotopic analysis of the CuO oxidation products and pyrolysis analysis to estimate the proportion of intact lignins remaining in the soil.

Sammendrag

Fire is the main disturbance for terrestrial ecosystems, with a strong effect on biogeochemical cycles. Especially, part of the ecosystem organic matter (OM) is chemically modified by temperature elevation. Depending on fire severity, a big variety of chemical structures is produced ranging from slightly altered OM to strongly condensated structures. The fate of these pyrogenic OM when added to soil is unclear. Highly aromatic black carbon (BC) may be the most stable part of the continuum. At molecular level, levoglucosan is the main fire product of cellulose alteration. These two compounds have been separately used as tracers of plant biomass burning in aerosols, soils and sediments. Their combined use may provide closer insight into conditions and OM transformations that occurred during the fire. We aimed at quantifying BC and levoglucosan in plant residues after fire. Their production rates were compared to improve the understanding of their relative contribution to soil OM. Litter leaves were collected after a prescribed burning. The >2mm fraction was visually separated into charred (black, shiny) and unburned (brown) particles. BC was quantified by chemical oxidation (K2Cr2O7/H2SO4) and elemental analyses. Levoglucosan was identified and quantified by GC/MS analysis of the total lipid extract. Unburned post-fire leaves contain more levoglucosan than charred leaves, showing that a chemical alteration occurred despite no visual evidence. Moreover BC and levoglucosan concentrations are negatively correlated. This is consistent with their expected production temperatures: levoglucosan may be destroyed at temperature BC is produced. Relative quantity of theses compounds may then provide information about fire severity. However while BC is expected to be stable in soil, levoglucosan may suffer from degradation processes. Consequently, for historical reconstitution their respective fates in soil degrading conditions have to be considered.

Sammendrag

Environment Synthesis) family of crop models predicts cereal growth, development, and yield. CERES simulates nitrogen (N) as a yield"limiting macronutrient. Because N leaching is an economic and environmental concern, this study evaluated if CERES can be used to predict N leaching under different N management scenarios: background leaching in unfertilized corn (Zea mays L.), alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) residue mineralization, and till versus no"till management. Data were collected during a 7"yr field experiment on tillage practices in a maize"alfalfa"maize succession. Sensitivity analyses were performed for decomposition rates of the different residue pools and the relative proportions of carbohydrate, cellulose, and lignin in the residues. During the last 5 yr, under corn, CERES accurately simulated nitrate leaching from the no"till lysimeters. Nitrate leaching was underestimated in the tillage treatments, possibly because CERES does not simulate tillage. The model is not very sensitive to the decomposition rates and to the composition of the residues

Sammendrag

Innen utgangen av 2006 må Norge beslutte om de ønsker å velge å få kreditter for 3.4-aktiviteter under Kyoto-protokollen. Tiltak i jordbruket er en opsjon for slike aktiviteter. Valg av jordbruksaktiviteter må ta hensyn til potensiell gevinst i form av opptak av karbon i jord, men også synergier og konflikter med andre mål inkludert erosjonskontroll, biodiversitet, bevaring av kulturlandskap og matproduksjon. Skogplanting på dyrkede myrer vil kunne føre til reduserte CO2 og N2O-utslipp på lengre sikt, men denne aktiviteten faller inn under artikkel 3.3 (tilskoging) og kan ikke velges under artikkel 3.4.. Restaurering av dyrkede myrer tilbake til naturtilstanden (våtmark) og naturlig degradering vil også redusere utslippene av CO2 og N2O på lang sikt (over flere tiår) men metan-utslippene vil øke. Denne økningen kombinert med stor usikkerhet med hensyn til utslipp fra restaurerte og dyrkede myrer er det viktigste argumentet mot slik restaurering som klimatiltak. Satsing på dyrking av energivekster kan gi gevinster i form av binding av karbon i jord Effekten av tiltak i jordbruket innen 2012 (utgangen av første forpliktelsesperiode) er imidlertid små. Valg av jordbruksaktiviteter vil kreve bedre overvåkning av karbon i jord og utslipp av klimagasser som medfører store kostnader. I lys av de små gevinstene, store usikkerheter, mulig økning i utslipp av klimagasser og konflikter med andre miljø- og jordbrukspolitiske mål samt overvåkingskostnader, er det lite hensiktsmessig å velge jordbruksaktiviteter for første forpliktelsesperiode. Valg i senere forpliktelsesperioder forutsetter bedre kunnskap.

Schematic illustration-SinoGrain III 050523

Divisjon for bioteknologi og plantehelse

Sinograin III: Smart agricultural technology and waste-made biochar for food security, reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and bio-and circular economy


The Sinograin III project’s overall objective is to contribute to the UN SDGs by widely implementing precision agriculture technologies and application of “waste-to-value” biochar products to achieve sustainable food production with minimized GHG emission, improve soil fertility and promote green growth/zero waste in modern agriculture in China.

Active Updated: 31.01.2024
End: okt 2027
Start: sep 2023