caa a22 4500 463209044 CHVBK 20180405153134.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170326e20070701xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10705-007-9090-x doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10705-007-9090-x Assessing causes of recent organic carbon losses from cropland soils by means of regional-scaled input balances for the case of Flanders (Belgium) [Elektronische Daten] [Steven Sleutel, Stefaan De Neve, Georges Hofman] Several recent reports on cropland soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes throughout Europe indicate a general continuing loss of SOC from these soils. As most arable soils in Europe are not in an equilibrium situation because of past changes in land-use and management practices, shifts in both have been suggested to drive this decline of SOC stocks. A lack of data has prevented the unambiguous verification of the contribution of these factors to SOC loss. First, this study focused on recent evolutions in management options for SOC sequestration in Flanders and showed that despite such practices have increased since 1990, their current contribution is still limited. Strikingly, their expansion is at odds with the reported general losses of SOC (−0.48t OCha−1year−1 on average). We used very detailed datasets of livestock numbers, N-application rates and cropping surfaces to calculate regional shifts in input of effective OC from animal manure application, cereal straw incorporation and crop residue incorporation which amounted to −0.094, −0.045 and −0.017tOC ha−1year−1, respectively. Shifts in management were identified to have potentially brought about but a third of the recent loss of SOC in the study area, although for central West-Flanders and the Eastern border of Flanders larger impacts of management were observed. This study suggests other influences such as land-use change and climate change to be involved as well. We estimated that another 10%-45% of the loss of SOC could potentially be attributed to land-use changes from grassland to cropland during the 1970-1990 period and about 10% to the observed temperature increase. While being a regional-scaled case study, these findings may be relevant to other European regions in particular (Denmark, The Netherlands, North-West Germany, Brittany and the North-West of France, the Po-valley in Italy and parts of England), with similar climate and intensity of agriculture, and where comparable trends in farming management may well have taken place. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2007 Soil organic carbon nationallicence Carbon sequestration nationallicence Soil management nationallicence Animal manure nationallicence Humification coefficient nationallicence Land use nationallicence Sleutel Steven Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut De Neve Stefaan Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut Hofman Georges Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Kluwer Academic Publishers 78/3(2007-07-01), 265-278 1385-1314 78:3<265 2007 78 10705 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-007-9090-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-007-9090-x text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sleutel Steven Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- De Neve Stefaan Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hofman Georges Department of Soil Management and Soil Care, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems Kluwer Academic Publishers 78/3(2007-07-01), 265-278 1385-1314 78:3<265 2007 78 10705 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer