Abstract:
Soil plays an important role in the
ecosystem with regard to plant growth,
soil biota functioning, reduction of
greenhouse gases, modification of pollutants
and maintenance of soil quality.
The great importance of C stocks emphasizes
the need to understand the role of
soil organic matter (SOM) dynamics and
quantitative changes as affected by natural
conditions and site-specific management.
Soil carbon inventories and turnover rates
are influenced by climate, vegetation, parent
material, topography and time. Studies
attempting to understand the influence
of a specific factor (e.g. temperature or
moisture) on soil properties have found it
useful to identify a group of soils for
which the factor in question varies.
Nevertheless, soils are the largest pool of
terrestrial carbon containing 1550 Pg of
soil organic carbon (SOC)1.
