Aims Long-term determination of root biomass production upon land-use conversion to biofuel crops is rare.To assess land-use legacy influences on belowground biomass accumulation,we converted 22-year-old Conservation ...Aims Long-term determination of root biomass production upon land-use conversion to biofuel crops is rare.To assess land-use legacy influences on belowground biomass accumulation,we converted 22-year-old Conservation Reserve Program(CRP)grasslands and 50+-year-old agricultural(AGR)lands to corn(C),switchgrass(Sw)and restored prairie(Pr)biofuel crops.We maintained one CRP grassland as a reference(Ref).We hypothesized that land-use history and crop type have significant effects on root density,with perennial crops on CRP grasslands having a higher root biomass productivity,while corn grown on former agricultural lands produce the lowest root biomass.Methods The ingrowth core method was used to determine in situ ingrowth root biomass,alongside measurements of aboveground net primary productivity(ANPP).Ancillary measurements,including air temperature,growing season length and precipitation were used to examine their influences on root biomass production.Important Findings Root biomass productivity was the highest in unconverted CRP grassland(1716 g m?2 yr?1)and lowest in corn fields(526 g m?2 yr?1).All perennial sites converted from CRP and AGR lands had lower root biomass and ANPP in the first year of planting but peaked in 2011 for switchgrass and a year later for restored prairies.Ecosystem stability was higher in restored prairies(AGR-Pr:4.3±0.11;CRP-Pr:4.1±0.10),with all monocultures exhibiting a lower stability.Root biomass production was positively related to ANPP(R2=0.40).Overall,attention should be given to root biomass accumulation in large-scale biofuel production as it is a major source of carbon sequestration.展开更多
基金Support for this research was provided by the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center,U.S.Department of Energy,Office of Science,Office of Biological and Environmental Research(Awards DE-SC0018409 and DE-FCO2-07ER64494)by the National Science Foundation Long-term Ecological Research Program(DEB 1832042)at the Kellogg Biological Station,and by Michigan State University AgBioResearch.
文摘Aims Long-term determination of root biomass production upon land-use conversion to biofuel crops is rare.To assess land-use legacy influences on belowground biomass accumulation,we converted 22-year-old Conservation Reserve Program(CRP)grasslands and 50+-year-old agricultural(AGR)lands to corn(C),switchgrass(Sw)and restored prairie(Pr)biofuel crops.We maintained one CRP grassland as a reference(Ref).We hypothesized that land-use history and crop type have significant effects on root density,with perennial crops on CRP grasslands having a higher root biomass productivity,while corn grown on former agricultural lands produce the lowest root biomass.Methods The ingrowth core method was used to determine in situ ingrowth root biomass,alongside measurements of aboveground net primary productivity(ANPP).Ancillary measurements,including air temperature,growing season length and precipitation were used to examine their influences on root biomass production.Important Findings Root biomass productivity was the highest in unconverted CRP grassland(1716 g m?2 yr?1)and lowest in corn fields(526 g m?2 yr?1).All perennial sites converted from CRP and AGR lands had lower root biomass and ANPP in the first year of planting but peaked in 2011 for switchgrass and a year later for restored prairies.Ecosystem stability was higher in restored prairies(AGR-Pr:4.3±0.11;CRP-Pr:4.1±0.10),with all monocultures exhibiting a lower stability.Root biomass production was positively related to ANPP(R2=0.40).Overall,attention should be given to root biomass accumulation in large-scale biofuel production as it is a major source of carbon sequestration.
