Impact of Land Use on the Storage and Turnover of Soil Organic Carbon: Stories from the Subsoil.

Land use change is one the main drivers of organic carbon storage in soils but significant knowledge gaps exist towards the response of biogeochemical cycles in the subsoil. In this seminar, I will present and discuss data from more than 20 sites in Nebraska. At these sites we sampled soil under cropland, native prairie or forest down to depths of at least 3 meters. The samples were analyzed for carbon storage and turnover, ecologically relevant carbon fractions, microbial community structure, and soil mineral characteristics. The data of these analyses can help to develop improved land use strategies to increase the long-term carbon storage beyond the topsoil.