Soil carbon sequestration in rangelands: a critical review of the impacts of major management strategies

Beverley Henry; Diane Allen; Warwick Badgery; Steven Bray; John Carter; Ram C. Dalal; Wayne Hall; Matthew Tom Harrison; Sarah E. McDonald; Hayley McMillan

doi:10.1071/RJ24005

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Soil carbon sequestration in rangelands: a critical review of the impacts of major management strategies

Beverley Henry ^A ^* , Diane Allen ^B , Warwick Badgery ^C , Steven Bray ^D , John Carter ^B , Ram C. Dalal ^E , Wayne Hall ^F , Matthew Tom Harrison ^G , Sarah E. McDonald ^H and Hayley McMillan ^D

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.

^B Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, Dutton Park, Qld 4102, Australia.

^C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

^D Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dutton Park, Qld 4102, Australia.

^E University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia.

^F Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.

^G Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Tas 7248, Australia.

^H NSW Department of Primary Industries, Trangie, NSW 2823, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: beverley.henry@qut.edu.au

The Rangeland Journal 46, RJ24005 https://doi.org/10.1071/RJ24005

Submitted: 6 March 2024 Accepted: 7 July 2024 Published: 13 August 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Rangeland Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The agronomic benefits of soil organic matter have been studied for centuries, but contemporary focus has expanded to ask how increasing long-term storage of soil organic carbon (SOC) can contribute to mitigation of climate change. Understanding the potential for SOC sequestration in the vast rangelands is crucial for climate change policy, agricultural land management and carbon market opportunities. In this review, we evaluate the evidence from published field trials and modelling studies for sequestration in Australian rangeland soils managed for livestock grazing. We found few long-term studies with high quality SOC stock change data linked to new management, and our analysis was constrained by data limitations, conflicting results between studies, and highly variable climate, soil and landscape conditions across production systems. Rainfall and soil properties are dominant determinants of variation in SOC stocks in rangelands, and it was difficult to detect management impacts in these environments. However, there was consistent evidence that: (1) Sowing more productive grasses or legumes in existing grass pastures generally increases SOC stocks; (2) Prolonged high stocking is associated with net SOC loss; (3) Destocking or exclusion of grazing results in small SOC increases, especially in degraded soils; (4) Conversion from cropping to permanent pasture results in sequestration, influenced by management history; (5) Rotational grazing strategies show negligible impact on SOC stocks relative to continuous grazing; and (6) Waterponding increased SOC stocks initially but persistence has not been demonstrated. We discuss possible opportunities for SOC sequestration in rangelands in the context of uncertainties and associated benefits and trade-offs for livestock production, and make recommendations to improve the evidence-base for major management strategies.

Keywords: Australia, carbon credits, climate change mitigation, grazing management, greenhouse gas emissions, pasture improvement, rainfall variability, sequestration, soil carbon.

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