Does conversion of forest to agricultural land change soil carbon and nitrogen? a review of the literature

Abstract Soil carbon is a large component of the global carbon cycle and its management can significantly affect the atmospheric CO 2 concentration. An important management issue is the extent of soil carbon (C) release when forest is converted to agricultural land. We reviewed the literature to assess changes in soil C upon conversion of forests to agricultural land. Analyses are confounded by changes in soil bulk density upon land‐use change, with agricultural soils on average having 13% higher bulk density. Consistent with earlier reviews, we found that conversion of forest to cultivated land led to an average loss of approximately 30% of soil C. When we restricted our analysis to studies that had used…

• CS
  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
• AR
  Australian Research Council