Review of elevated atmospheric CO2 effects on agro-ecosystems: residue decomposition processes and soil C storage

A series of studies using major crops (cotton [Gossypium hirsutum L.], wheat [Triticum aestivum L.], grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.] and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]) were reviewed to examine the impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 on crop residue decomposition within agro-ecosystems. Experiments evaluated utilized plant and soil material collected from CO2 study sites using Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) and open top chambers (OTC). A incubation study of FACE residue revealed that CO2-induced changes in cotton residue composition could alter decomposition processes, with a decrease in N mineralization observed with FACE, which was dependent on plant organ and soil series. Incubation studies utilizing plant material grown in OTC considered CO2-induced changes in relation to quantity and quality of crop residue for two species, soybean and grain sorghum. As with cotton, N mineralization was reduced with elevated CO2 in both species, however, difference in both quantity and quality of residue impacted patterns of C mineralization. Over the short-term (14 d), little difference was observed for CO2 treatments in soybean, but C mineralization was reduced with elevated CO2 in grain sorghum. For longer incubation periods (60 d), a significant reduction in CO2-C mineralized per g of residue added was observed with the elevated atmospheric CO2 treatment in both crop species. Results from incubation studies agreed with those from the OTC field observations for both measurements of short-term CO2 efflux following spring tillage and the cumulative effect of elevated CO2 (> 2 years) in this study. Observations from field and laboratory studies indicate that with elevated atmospheric CO2, the rate of plant residue decomposition may be limited by N and the release of N from decomposing plant material may be slowed. This indicates that understanding N cycling as affected by elevated CO2 is fundamental to understanding the potential for soil C storage on a global scale.