Predicting long-term soil carbon changes in rangelands requires understanding of the ecological potential and current state of the land. Although weather can cause short-term fluctuations within the ecological state, it is not reliable for long-term predictions. Instead, vegetation type and behaviour are better indicators of ecological state and can be easily measured through existing technology. This information can be used to develop a system for both monitoring soil carbon and guiding land management decisions.

This article belongs to the Collection Carbon and Environmental Service Markets.

If the supposed soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) trade-off exists, then grazing practices that increase SOC will decrease SIC which may have unintended impacts on carbon sequestration. We found no effect of grazing treatments on SIC and no evidence that grazing-induced SOC accrual was associated with SIC loss. Our findings support the interpretation that SIC stocks (mass per unit area) are stable and unaffected by grazing and grazing-induced SOC accrual, at least over the short term (5 years).

This article belongs to the Collection Carbon and Environmental Service Markets.