Mikhailova, Elena (Clemson University, 261 Lehotsky Hall, Clemson, SC, 29634; Phone: 864-656-3535; Fax: 864-656-3304; Email: eleanam@clemson.edu)

Soil Organic and Inorganic Carbon Dynamics in Grassland Ecosystems

E.A. Mikhailova *, C.J. Post

Grassland soils play an important role in the global carbon cycle, but their contribution to the soil carbon storage is often underestimated. The objective of this study was to evaluate the soil organic and inorganic carbon storage at depth in the Russian Chernozem (fine-silty, mixed, frigid Pachic Hapludoll) under different management regimes: a native grassland field (not cultivated for at least 300 years), an adjacent 50-year continuous-fallow field, a yearly cut hay field in the V.V. Alekhin Central-Chernozem Biosphere State Reserve in the Kursk region of Russia, and a continuously cropped field in the Experimental Station of the Kursk Institute of Agronomy and Soil Erosion control. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of global and regional soil organic and inorganic carbon estimates. Soil organic and inorganic carbon dynamics in grassland ecosystems are described in relation to their potential for soil carbon sequestration