Soil organic matter stability in two typical agroforestry systems in central Alberta, Canada

Having more stable soil organic matter (SOM) in a land use systems means that less CO2 maybe emitted per unit area of land when the land is subject to an increasing temperature (global warming). The objectives of the project are two-fold: 1) to analyze short-term biological SOM stability in hedgerow and shelterbelt agroforestry systems, and 2) to characterize the SOM in these same samples using thermal analysis techniques during ramped combustion. We predict that the SOM in the forested area should be more thermally stable than that in the herbland, while it is less stable in the surface than in the subsurface layer. We also predict that the SOM in the hedgerow system may be less easily decomposed than that in the shelterbelt system. The expected output will give us insight into the carbon stability difference in different agroforestry systems as well as under different land covers. TO BE CONT’D

Faculty Supervisor:

Scott Chang

Student:

Partner:

University of Pennsylvania

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program: