TY - JOUR A1 - Vaidya, Shrijana A1 - Schmidt, Marten A1 - Rakowski, Peter A1 - Bonk, Norbert A1 - Verch, Gernot A1 - Augustin, Jürgen A1 - Sommer, Michael A1 - Hoffmann, Mathias T1 - A novel robotic chamber system allowing to accurately and precisely determining spatio-temporal CO2 flux dynamics of heterogeneous croplands JF - Agricultural and forest meteorology N2 - The precise and accurate assessment of carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange is crucial to identify terrestrial carbon (C) sources and sinks and for evaluating their role within the global C budget. The substantial uncertainty in disentangling the management and soil impact on measured CO2 fluxes are largely ignored especially in cropland. The reasons for this lies in the limitation of the widely used eddy covariance as well as manual and automatic chamber systems, which either account for short-term temporal variability or small-scale spatial heterogeneity, but barely both. To address this issue, we developed a novel robotic chamber system allowing for dozens of spatial measurement repetitions, thus enabling CO2 exchange measurements in a sufficient temporal and high small-scale spatial resolution. The system was tested from 08th July to 09th September 2019 at a heterogeneous field (100 m x 16 m), located within the hummocky ground moraine landscape of northeastern Germany (CarboZALF-D). The field is foreseen for a longer-term block trial manipulation experiment extending over three erosion induced soil types and was covered with spring barley. Measured fluxes of nighttime ecosystem respiration (R-eco) and daytime net ecosystem exchange (NEE) showed distinct temporal patterns influenced by crop phenology, weather conditions and management practices. Similarly, we found clear small-scale spatial differences in cumulated (gap-filled) R-eco, gross primary productivity (GPP) and NEE fluxes affected by the three distinct soil types. Additionally, spatial patterns induced by former management practices and characterized by differences in soil pH and nutrition status (P and K) were also revealed between plots within each of the three soil types, which allowed compensating for prior to the foreseen block trial manipulation experiment. The results underline the great potential of the novel robotic chamber system, which not only detects short-term temporal CO2 flux dynamics but also reflects the impact of small-scale spatial heterogeneity. KW - Automatic chamber KW - Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) KW - Gross primary KW - productivity (GPP) KW - Ecosystem respiration (R-eco) KW - Soil erosion KW - Soil KW - heterogeneity Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108206 SN - 0168-1923 SN - 1873-2240 VL - 296 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Calitri, Francesca A1 - Sommer, Michael A1 - van der Meij, Marijn W. A1 - Egli, Markus T1 - Soil erosion along a transect in a forested catchment: recent or ancient processes? JF - Catena : an interdisciplinary journal of soil science, hydrology, geomorphology focusing on geoecology and landscape evolution N2 - Forested areas are assumed not to be influenced by erosion processes. However, forest soils of Northern Germany in a hummocky ground moraine landscape can sometimes exhibit a very shallow thickness on crest positions and buried soils on slope positions. The question consequently is: Are these on-going or ancient erosional and depositional processes? Plutonium isotopes act as soil erosion/deposition tracers for recent (last few decades) processes. Here, we quantified the 239+240PU inventories in a small, forested catchment (ancient forest "Melzower Forst", deciduous trees), which is characterised by a hummocky terrain including a kettle hole. Soil development depths (depth to C horizon) and 239+240PU inventories along a catena of sixteen different profiles were determined and correlated to relief parameters. Moreover, we compared different modelling approaches to derive erosion rates from Pu data.
We find a strong relationship between soil development depths, distance-to-sink and topography along the catena. Fully developed Retisols (thicknesses > 1 m) in the colluvium overlay old land surfaces as documented by fossil Ah horizons. However, we found no relationship of Pu-based erosion rates to any relief parameter. Instead, 239+240PU inventories showed a very high local, spatial variability (36-70 Bq m(-2)). Low annual rainfall, spatially distributed interception and stem flow might explain the high variability of the 239+240PU inventories, giving rise to a patchy input pattern. Different models resulted in quite similar erosion and deposition rates (max: -5 t ha(-1) yr(-1) to +7.3 t ha(-1) yr(-1)). Although some rates are rather high, the magnitude of soil erosion and deposition - in terms of soil thickness change - is negligible during the last 55 years. The partially high values are an effect of the patchy Pu deposition on the forest floor. This forest has been protected for at least 240 years. Therefore rather natural events and anthropogenic activities during medieval times or even earlier must have caused the observed soil pattern, which documents strong erosion and deposition processes. KW - Soil erosion KW - 239+240 Plutonium KW - Forest KW - Moraine landscape KW - Soil catena Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104683 SN - 0341-8162 SN - 1872-6887 VL - 194 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Leue, Martin A1 - Hoffmann, Carsten A1 - Hierold, Wilfried A1 - Sommer, Michael T1 - In-situ multi-sensor characterization of soil cores along an erosion deposition gradient JF - Catena : an interdisciplinary journal of soil science, hydrology, geomorphology focusing on geoecology and landscape evolution N2 - Soil landscape research is faced with wide-ranging questions of soil erosion, precision farming, and agricultural risk management. Digital Soil Morphometrics is a powerful tool to provide respective answers or recommendations but requires soil data from the pedon-to-field scale with high horizontal and vertical resolutions, including the subsoil. We present an efficient sampling and measurement method for easily obtainable soil driving cores with low-destructive preparation. Elemental contents and soil organic and mineral matter composition were measured rapidly and in large numbers using a multi-sensor approach, i.e., visible and near infrared (Vis-NIR), diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The suitability of the approach with respect to three-dimensional soil landscape models was tested using soils along a slope representing different stages of erosion and deposition in a hummocky landscape under arable land use (Calcaric Regosols, Calcic Luvisols, Luvic Stagnosols, Gleyic-Colluvic Regosols). The combination of soil core sampling, pedological description, and three spectroscopic techniques enabled rapid determination and interpretation of horizontal and vertical spatial distributions of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil organic and mineral matter composition, as well as CaCO3, Fe, and Mn contents. Depth profiles for SOC, CaCO3, and Fe contents were suitable indicators for site-specific degrees of erosion and matter transport processes at the pedon-to-field scale. Fe and Mn profiles helped identifying zones of reductive and oxic domains in subsoils (gleyzation). Further methodical developments should implement plant-availability of nutrients, characterization of Fe oxides, and calibration of the spectroscopic techniques to field-moist samples. KW - Digital soil morphometrics KW - VIS-NIR spectroscopy KW - DRIFT spectroscopy KW - XRF spectroscopy KW - Soil organic carbon KW - Soil erosion Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104140 SN - 0341-8162 SN - 1872-6887 VL - 182 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Calsamiglia, Aleix A1 - Garcia-Comendador, Julian A1 - Fortesa, Josep A1 - Lopez-Tarazon, José Andrés A1 - Crema, S. A1 - Cavalli, M. A1 - Calvo-Cases, A. A1 - Estrany, Joan T1 - Effects of agricultural drainage systems on sediment connectivity in a small Mediterranean lowland catchment JF - Geomorphology : an international journal on pure and applied geomorphology N2 - Traditional drainage systems combining man-made channels and subsurface tile drains have been used since Roman times to control water excess in Mediterranean lowland regions, favouring adequate soil water regime for agriculture purposes. However, mechanization of agriculture, abandonment or land use changes lead to a progressive deterioration of these drains in the last decades. The effects of these structures on hydrological and sediment dynamics have been previously analyzed in a small Mediterranean lowland catchment (Can Revull, Mallorca, Spain, 1.4 km2) by establishing an integrated sediment budget with a multi-technique approach. Moreover, the recent advances in morphometric techniques enable the completion of this analysis by the accurate identification of active areas (i.e. sources, pathway links, and sinks) and improve the understanding of (de-)coupling mechanisms of water and sediment linkages. In this study, the Borselli's index of connectivity (IC; Cavalli et al. (2013)'s version) derived from a LiDAR-based high resolution DEM (>1 pt m−2; RMSE < 0.2 m) was used to evaluate the spatial patterns of sediment connectivity of the catchment under two different scenarios: (1) the current scenario, including an accurate representation of the 3800 m of artificial channels and levees (CS - Channelled Scenario), and (2) a hypothetical scenario in which these anthropogenic features were removed (US - Unchannelled Scenario). Design and configuration of the drainage system in Can Revull generated changes favouring lateral decoupling between different compartments, with hillslopes-floodplain and floodplain-channels relationships, showing a general decrease of IC values, and high longitudinal connectivity along the artificial channel network. Field observations corroborated these results: structures enabled rapid drainage of the water excess also promoting low surface runoff within the field crops, proving to be an effective management practice for erosion control in agricultural Mediterranean lowland catchments. By contrast, US demonstrated that the abandonment of the current agricultural practices and the subsequent destruction of the drainage system could lead the higher soil loss rates owning to more intense/effective processes of sediment connectivity. KW - Sediment connectivity KW - Traditional drainage systems KW - Catchment management KW - Soil erosion KW - LiDAR Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.06.011 SN - 0169-555X SN - 1872-695X VL - 318 SP - 162 EP - 171 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hoffmann, Matthias A1 - Pohl, Madlen A1 - Jurisch, N. A1 - Prescher, Anne-Katrin A1 - Campa, E. Mendez A1 - Hagemann, Ulrike A1 - Remus, R. A1 - Verch, G. A1 - Sommer, Michael A1 - Augustin, J. T1 - Maize carbon dynamics are driven by soil erosion state and plant phenology rather than nitrogen fertilization form JF - Soil & tillage research : an international journal on research and development in soil tillage and field traffic, and their relationships with soil environment, land use and crop production N2 - Carbon (C) stored in soils represents the largest C pool of terrestrial ecosystems and consequently plays a crucial role in the global C cycle. So far, it is widely unclear to what extent different land uses and land use change influence soil C storage. The hummocky ground moraine landscape of northeastern Germany is characterized by distinct small-scale soil heterogeneity on the one hand, and intensive energy crop cultivation on the other. Both factors are assumed to significantly influence gaseous C exchange; as such, they likely drive soil organic carbon (SOC) stock dynamics in terrestrial agricultural ecosystems. To date, it is not clear to what extent N fertilization forms, which are associated with energy crop cultivation (e.g., application of biogas fermentation residues) and soil type relative to soil erosion state, influence soil C dynamics, nor is it clear whether one of these factors is more important than the other. To investigate the influence of soil erosion state and N fertilization form on soil C dynamics, we present dynamic and seasonal net ecosystem carbon balances (NECB) as a proxy for changes in soil organic carbon stocks. Measurements were conducted for maize (Zea mays L.) at five sites in the "CarboZALF-D" experimental field during the 2011 growing season. Measurement sites represent different soil erosion states (non-eroded Albic Luvisols, extremely eroded Calcaric Regosols and depositional Endogleyic Colluvic Regosols) and N fertilization forms (100% mineral fertilizer, 50% mineral and 50% organic fertilizer, and 100% organic fertilizer). Fertilization treatments were established on the Albic Luvisol. Net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) and ecosystem respiration (R-eco) were measured every four weeks using a dynamic flow-through non-steady-state closed manual chamber system. Gap filling was performed based on empirical temperature and PAR dependency functions and was used to derive daily NEE values. In parallel, daily above-ground biomass production (NPFshoot) was estimated using a logistic growth equation, fitted on periodic biomass samples. Finally, C dynamics were calculated as the balance of daily NEE and NPPshoot based on the initial C input due to organic fertilization. Resulting NECB varied from pronounced soil C losses at the Endogleyic Colluvic Regosol (592 g C m(-2)) to soil C gains at the Calcaric Regosol (-124 g C m(-2)). Minor to modest C losses were observed for the Albic Luvisol. Compared to N fertilization forms, soil erosion states generally had a stronger impact on derived NECB. However, interannual variations in plant phonology and interactions between soil erosion states and fertilization forms might result in different NECB values over multiple years. Hence, long-term measurements of different fertilization treatments on characteristic soil landscape elements are needed. KW - Soil erosion KW - Net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) KW - Closed chamber measurements KW - Biogas fermentation residues KW - Plant phenology Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.09.004 SN - 0167-1987 SN - 1879-3444 VL - 175 SP - 255 EP - 266 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Doetterl, Sebastian A1 - Berhe, Asmeret Asefaw A1 - Nadeu, Elisabet A1 - Wang, Zhengang A1 - Sommer, Michael A1 - Fiener, Peter T1 - Erosion, deposition and soil carbon: A review of process-level controls, experimental tools and models to address C cycling in dynamic landscapes JF - Earth science reviews : the international geological journal bridging the gap between research articles and textbooks N2 - The role of soil erosion in terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration and release remains one of the most important uncertainties in our attempts to determine the potential of soils to mediate climate change. Despite its widely recognized importance for terrestrial C sequestration, to date, no Earth System Model (ESM) implements soil erosion effects on carbon cycling in sufficient detail. So far, available studies have mostly investigated the magnitude of erosional C transport and in-situ measurements of vertical C fluxes on the catchment or regional scale. Recognizing the need to adequately represent C erosion processes and controls in ESMs, we provide a comprehensive cross-disciplinary review on lateral C redistribution in the landscape and discuss the implications for bio-geochemical cycling of carbon. We present current knowledge on the role of erosional C distribution in controlling the stabilization and release of C in soils, taking into consideration the important geomorphic, ecological, hydrologic, pedologic and micro-climatic processes and controls that affect soil organic carbon (SOC) stock, fluxes, and persistence in dynamic landscapes. Further, we provide an overview on latest experimental and modelling approaches that are being used to investigate the role of erosion in the carbon cycle. Finally, to advance our understanding of the role of soil redistribution in biogeochemical cycles of essential elements, we discuss the most promising topics for future research in this field. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Soil erosion KW - Soil deposition KW - Carbon redistribution KW - Terrestrial C sink Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.12.005 SN - 0012-8252 SN - 1872-6828 VL - 154 SP - 102 EP - 122 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -