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dc.contributor.authorSmith, Stuart
dc.contributor.authorVandenberghe, Charlotte
dc.contributor.authorHastings, Ashley
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, David
dc.contributor.authorPakeman, Robin J
dc.contributor.authorvan der Wal, René
dc.contributor.authorWoodin, Sarah J.
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-10T11:25:37Z
dc.date.available2022-03-10T11:25:37Z
dc.date.created2016-08-16T18:15:08Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.identifier.citationEcosystems. 2014, 17 418-429.en_US
dc.identifier.issn1432-9840
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11250/2984230
dc.description.abstractLivestock grazing is known to influence carbon (C) storage in vegetation and soil. Yet, for grazing management to be used to optimize C storage, large scale investigations that take into account the typically heterogeneous distribution of grazers and C across the landscape are required. In a landscape-scale grazing experiment in the Scottish uplands, we quantified C stored in swards dominated by the widespread tussock-forming grass species Molinia caerulea. The impact of three sheep stocking treatments (‘commercial’ 2.7 ewes ha−1 y−1, ‘low’ 0.9 ewes ha−1 y−1 and no livestock) on plant C stocks was determined at three spatial scales; tussock, sward and landscape, and these data were used to predict long-term changes in soil organic carbon (SOC). We found that tussocks were particularly dense C stores (that is, high C mass per unit area) and that grazing reduced their abundance and thus influenced C stocks held in M. caerulea swards across the landscape; C stocks were 3.83, 5.01 and 6.85 Mg C ha−1 under commercial sheep grazing, low sheep grazing and no grazing, respectively. Measured vegetation C in the three grazing treatments provided annual C inputs to RothC, an organic matter turnover model, to predict changes in SOC over 100 years. RothC predicted SOC to decline under commercial sheep stocking and increase under low sheep grazing and no grazing. Our findings suggest that no sheep and low-intensity sheep grazing are better upland management practices for enhancing plant and soil C sequestration than commercial sheep grazing. This is evaluated in the context of other upland management objectives.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherSpringeren_US
dc.titleOptimizing carbon storage within a spatially heterogeneous upland grassland through sheep grazing managementen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US
dc.description.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.rights.holderThe published version of the article will not be available due to copyright restrictionsen_US
dc.source.pagenumber418-429en_US
dc.source.volume17en_US
dc.source.journalEcosystemsen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10021-013-9731-7
dc.identifier.cristin1373298
cristin.unitcode194,66,10,0
cristin.unitnameInstitutt for biologi
cristin.ispublishedtrue
cristin.fulltextoriginal
cristin.qualitycode2


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