干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Recently soils have gained more attention within the global change debate as the largest terrestrial carbon (C) pool. Different soils and vegetation types have substantial impacts on many of the processes that take place in the ecosystem functioning and thus in soil organic C stocks. An accurate estimation of vegetation C inputs to soils may aid in more precise estimation of the future release or sequestration of soil organic C. Wheat production affects C inputs and thus soil C sequestration in soils. The objective of this research was to evaluate C inputs by wheat, from 1993 to 2002 in the Pampas Region. The estimated C input rate by wheat was greater in the humid subregion than in the semiarid subregion: 0.9 and 0.75 Mg C/ha/year, correspondingly. This pattern agrees with the observation that precipitation constrains plant production in arid to subhumid ecosystems. The average organic C input by wheat into the soils throughout the period was 8.1 Mg C/ha in the humid subregion and, 6.75 Mg C/ha in the semiarid subregion.