Assessing changes in soil organic carbon stocks and vulnerability to land degradation in Western Ghats, South India: Is it restorative enough?

Karthika Kavukattu Sreekumar; Kokkuvayil Sankaranarayanan Anil Kumar; Krishna Pillai Madhusoodanan Nair; Kalaiselvi Beeman; Lalitha Manickam; Parvathy Sreekumar; Venkataramanappa Ramamurthy

doi:10.1111/sum.13056

journal article Apr 01, 2024

Assessing changes in soil organic carbon stocks and vulnerability to land degradation in Western Ghats, South India: Is it restorative enough?

Karthika Kavukattu Sreekumar Kokkuvayil Sankaranarayanan Anil Kumar Krishna Pillai Madhusoodanan Nair Kalaiselvi Beeman Lalitha Manickam

Parvathy Sreekumar Venkataramanappa Ramamurthy

Soil Use and Management Vol. 40 No. 2 · Wiley

View at Publisher Save 10.1111/sum.13056

Abstract

Abstract

Soil organic carbon stock is an important universal land degradation indicator. Owing to the depletion in soil nutrients, the pace of land degradation has increased in the Western Ghats of South India. To understand the changes in surface and subsurface soil organic carbon stocks and vulnerability to land degradation upon land use change, a study was carried out along the natural forest and coffee plantation ecosystems of Western Ghats in South India. The study sites were located in Chikmagaluru of Karnataka and Wayanad and Idukki districts of Kerala. Soil organic carbon stocks (SOC) at the surface (0–30 cm) were higher, 9.10 t C ha
−1
and 7.49 k t C ha
−1
in forest soils of Chikmagaluru and Idukki, respectively, and the subsurface (30–100 cm) SOC stocks were higher in the coffee plantation ecosystems, 9.11, 9.87, and 8.41 t C ha
−1
, respectively, in Chikmagaluru, Wayanad, and Idukki. Vulnerability analysis revealed that Chikmagaluru forest (0.57) and coffee (0.51), Wayanad forest (0.58) and coffee (0.55) land uses were low, and both the land uses in Idukki were medium in the status of land degradation with scores of 0.65 and 0.60, respectively, in forest and coffee ecosystems. The difference in the status of land degradation was mainly because of changes in soil reaction, surface, and subsurface SOC stock. An increase in soil pH, CEC, and available nutrients upon conversion to coffee plantation along with increased subsurface carbon storage have confirmed the restorative properties of coffee land use even after conversion from natural forests.

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Published: Apr 01, 2024
Vol/Issue: 40(2)
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Authors

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Karthika Kavukattu Sreekumar