Soil Carbon Dynamics: An Integrated Methodology

Carbon stored in soils represents the largest terrestrial carbon pool and factors affecting this will be vital in the understanding of future atmospheric CO2 concentrations. This book provides an integrated view on measuring and modeling soil carbon dynamics. Based on a broad range of in-depth contributions by leading scientists it gives an overview of current research concepts, developments and outlooks and introduces cutting-edge methodologies, ranging from questions of appropriate measurement design to the potential application of stable isotopes and molecular tools. It includes a standardised soil CO2 efflux protocol, aimed at data consistency and inter-site comparability and thus underpins a regional and global understanding of soil carbon dynamics. This book provides an important reference work for students and scientists interested in many aspects of soil ecology and biogeochemical cycles, policy makers, carbon traders and others concerned with the global carbon cycle.

Werner L. Kutsch coordinates the ecosystem fluxes group at the Max Planck institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany. Previously he worked at the University of Kiel, Germany and the Kruger National Park, south Africa. His research interests lie in dynamics of ecosystem fluxes, soil and ecosystem carbon balances, soil respiration and plant and microbial eco-physiology in temperate and tropical ecosystems. He has been awarded the Horst Wiehe Award 1994 by the Ecological society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Gf) for 'outstanding scientific work in the field of ecology'. Michael Bahn is senior scientist at the Institute of Ecology, university of Innsbruck, where he teaches ecosystems and plant ecology and ecophysiology. He has carried out research on plant resource utilization, functional biodiversity and ecosystem processes in numerous mountain ecosystems across Europe. For several years he has been particularly concerned with understanding abiotic and biotic controls on the ecosystem and soil C fluxes and their components across a range of spatial and temporal scales, with a focus on global change and the plant-soil interface. Andreas Heinemeyer has been a soil scientist for more than 10 years, first at the university of Gttingen, Germany, and then at the university of York from 2002, where he is a senior scientist at the Stockholm Environment institute and continues to work as a research associate within the UK Centre for Terrestrial carbon Dynamics. His research focus is on relating soil carbon stocks and fluxes to climate with a particular focus on the mycorrhizal symbioses, linking plant carbon supply to soil respiration. He was the first to have continuously measured mycorrhizal soil carbon fluxes in the field and is increasingly involved in plant-soil carbon flux model developments.