The Response of Soil Carbon Pools to Management Practices and Age of Residential Areas in Auburn, Alabama

Ann Huyler, PhD. Forestry

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Urban areas are expanding rapidly around the world due to increased population growth and increased migration out of rural areas. Construction of residential areas is incurring more land use changes than any other sector of urbanization. Investigation of carbon sources and sinks has historically focused on changes within natural ecosystems, with little research in the carbon content of urban soils. This study is a part of a larger project focusing on characterizing the structure and functioning of an urban ecosystem in a rapidly growing southern metropolis. The overall goal is to quantify the belowground carbon content of urban residential areas in regards to the age of the residential area and the management practices of the homeowners. The specific objectives are to (1) categorize the vegetation composition and aboveground biomass for each residential unit (2) quantify the soil chemistry and carbon and nitrogen content (3) examine the relationship of soil carbon to vegetation parameters, residential age, and management practices. This research will take place on the property of single family residences in Auburn, Alabama. Our independent variables are the age and management practices of the residential units and our dependent variables are soil C and root biomass.  Influences to soil C and root biomass will be seasonal changes, vegetation composition, soil chemistry and physical texture.  Aboveground biomass will be assessed using protocols developed by the USDA Forest Service. Bulk density, soil samples, and root biomass will be collected by using soil cores. The overall goal of the study are to determine the amount of SOC in residential areas to compare to SOC in natural areas in order to determine the effect of land use changes on SOC levels. Carbon inputs to SOC will be examined in this project in order to increase the accuracy of soil C storage models.  Results from this project can be utilized by countries and individual researchers investigating C sources and sinks, by cities assessing land use changes to soil C, and utilities analyzing the C storage capacity for C cap and trade programs.