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Soil Carbon and Water Security

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Ecosystem Services and Carbon Sequestration in the Biosphere

Abstract

The provision of hydrologic ecosystem services (HES) is critical for both human well-being and environmental sustainability. A key component in addressing current and future challenges in water resource management is the development of a comprehensive understanding of the complex relationships between soil properties, land use/management, and the hydrologic cycle. The soil-water interface is critical in determining the relative distribution of “blue” (i.e., irrigation, municipal supplies, aquatic ecosystems) and “green” (i.e., evapotranspiration) water usage for a given region, and therefore must be considered in the assessment of HES provisioning. The relationship between water security and food security plays a crucial role, since the agricultural sector consumes approximately 70 % of global water supply. In addition, it is projected that global agricultural yields will have to be doubled over the next 25–35 years to meet increasing demand, and that about 90 % of this increase will have to be produced on existing cultivated land. This can only be achieved with a more efficient use of the water resources and a substantial improvement and extension of water management systems.

The hydrologic functioning of soils is primarily a function of their physical, chemical, and biological properties, and in particular the amount and quality of organic carbon (C) present element. The partitioning of hydrologic fluxes into blue and green water is mainly a function of soil factors and processes that control the storage and transport of water, with soil organic matter (SOM) representing a key element. The amount of soil organic C (SOC) present will increase with specific land-cover/use changes (e.g., conservation tillage, mulching, agroforestry), and will be reduced or even eliminated by others (e.g., erosion, high-intensity fires), making proper land management crucial for sustaining beneficial soil properties. The SOM quality is decisive for the filtering, buffering, and transformation function capacities of soils. It also controls the mobilization of dissolved organic C (DOC) which has implications on the quality of water supply. Given the increased calls for management actions to address climate change which will impact soil functioning (e.g., C sequestration, afforestation), it is important to also consider how these changes will impact individual HES and water security, and what conflicts and tradeoffs will need to be addressed. Thus, provisioning of HES must be integrated in coordinated actions of resource planning and land management on the appropriate landscape scale (i.e., the watershed). Such a process may benefit from information resulting from integrated catchment modelling that systematically assesses land management/soil-feedback scenarios

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Abbreviations

C:

Carbon

CEC:

Cation Exchange Capacity

DOC:

Dissolved Organic Carbon

DOM:

Dissolved Organic Matter

ES:

Ecosystem Services

HES:

Hydrologic Ecosystem Services

OM:

Organic Matter

SOC:

Soil Organic Carbon

SOM:

Soil Organic Matter

WWP:

Working for Water Program

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology, Dresden Water Center, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Technische Universität Dresden, Pienner Str. 19, 01737, Tharandt, Germany

    Karl-Heinz Feger & Daniel Hawtree

Authors
  1. Karl-Heinz Feger
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  2. Daniel Hawtree
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Correspondence to Karl-Heinz Feger .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Ohio State University, Coffey Road Kottman Hall 422B 2021, Columbus, 43210, Ohio, USA

    Rattan Lal

  2. , Global Soil Forum, IASS Inst. for Adv. Sust. Studies, Berliner Str. 130, Potsdam, 14467, Brandenburg, Germany

    Klaus Lorenz

  3. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

    Reinhard F. Hüttl

  4. , Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam, Telegrafenberg 309G, Potsdam, 14473, Brandenburg, Germany

    Bernd Uwe Schneider

  5. Universität Bonn, Walter-Flex-Str. 3, Bonn, 53113, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Joachim von Braun

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Feger, KH., Hawtree, D. (2013). Soil Carbon and Water Security. In: Lal, R., Lorenz, K., Hüttl, R., Schneider, B., von Braun, J. (eds) Ecosystem Services and Carbon Sequestration in the Biosphere. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6455-2_5

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