{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1016/j.foreco.2008.02.005", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:16:30Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2008-03-12", "title": "Why Does Rainfall Affect The Trend In Soil Carbon After Converting Pastures To Forests? A Possible Explanation Based On Nitrogen Dynamics", "description": "Abstract   When trees are planted onto former pastures, soil carbon stocks typically either remain constant or decrease, with decreases more common in regions with higher rainfall. We conducted a modelling analysis to assess whether those changes in soil carbon, especially the interaction with rainfall, could be understood through consideration of nitrogen balances. The study was based on simulations with the whole-system ecophysiological model CenW which allowed explicit modelling of both carbon and nitrogen pools and their fluxes through plants and soil organic matter.  We found that in a modelled coniferous forest without excess water input, total system nitrogen stocks remained similar to pre-forestation values because there were few pathways for nitrogen losses, and without biological nitrogen fixation or fertiliser inputs, gains were restricted to small inputs from atmospheric deposition. However, tree biomass and the litter layer accumulated considerable amounts of nitrogen. This accumulation of nitrogen came at the expense of depleting soil nitrogen stocks. With the change from input of grass litter that is low in lignin to forest litter with higher lignin concentration, organic-matter C:N ratios increased so that more carbon could be stored per unit of soil nitrogen which partly negated the effect of reduced nitrogen stocks. The increase in C:N ratios was initially confined to the surface litter layer because of slow transfer of material to the mineral soil. Over a period of decades, soil C:N ratios eventually increased in the soil as well.  Simulations with different amounts of precipitation showed that greater amounts of nitrogen were leached from systems where water supply exceeded the plants\u2019 requirements. Reduced nitrogen stocks then caused a subsequent reduction in soil organic carbon stocks. These simulations thus provided a consistent explanation for the observation of greater losses of soil organic carbon in high-rainfall systems after converting pastures to forests. More generally, the simulations showed that explicit modelling of the nitrogen cycle can put important constraints on possible changes in soil-carbon stocks that may occur after land-use change.", "keywords": ["land use change", "Rainfall", "Mitigation", "ecophysiology", "nitrogen cyc Afforestation", "Greenhouse", "Nitrogen", "Rain", "CenW", "Land-use change", "lignin", "Greenhouse effect", "afforestation", "carbon cycle", "Forest", "Reforestation", "Keywords: Carbon", "2. Zero hunger", "atmospheric deposition", "Nitrogen dynamics", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "Carbon", "13. Climate action", "Land use", "ecological modeling", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "grassland"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Roger M. Gifford, Miko U. F. Kirschbaum, Miko U. F. Kirschbaum, Lan Bin Guo,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/61047/5/Kirschbaum_Rainfall_affect_in_soil_carbon.pdf.jpg"}, {"href": "https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/61047/7/01_Kirschbaum_Why_does_rainfall_affect_the_2008.pdf.jpg"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.02.005"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Forest%20Ecology%20and%20Management", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.foreco.2008.02.005", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.foreco.2008.02.005", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.02.005"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2008-04-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.08.021", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-04-13T16:17:15Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2007-11-09", "title": "Observed And Modelled Soil Carbon And Nitrogen Changes After Planting A Pinus Radiata Stand Onto Former Pasture", "description": "Abstract   After reforesting pasture land, it is often observed that soil carbon stocks decrease. The present work reports findings from a site near Canberra, Australia, where a pine forest (Pinus radiata) was planted onto a former unimproved pasture site. We report a number of detailed observations seeking to understand the basis of the decline in soil C stocks. This is supported by simulations using the whole-ecosystem carbon and nitrogen cycling model CenW 3.1. The model indicated that over the first 18 years after forest establishment, the site lost about 5.5\u00a0t\u00a0C\u00a0ha\u22121 and 588\u00a0kgN\u00a0ha\u22121 from the soil. The C:N ratio of soil organic matter did not change in a systematic manner over the observational period. Carbon and nitrogen stocks contained in the biomass of the 18-year old pine stand exceeded that of the pasture by 88\u00a0t\u00a0C\u00a0ha\u22121 and 393\u00a0kgN\u00a0ha\u22121. An additional 6.1\u00a0t\u00a0C\u00a0ha\u22121 and 110\u00a0kgN\u00a0ha\u22121 accumulated in above-ground litter. These changes, together with the vertical distribution of carbon and nitrogen in the soil, agreed well with the observation at the site. It was assumed that over 18 years, there was also a loss of 86\u00a0kgN\u00a0ha\u22121 from the ecosystem because of normal gaseous losses during nitrogen turn-over and a small amount of nitrogen leaching. Those losses could not be replenished in the pine system without symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation, and there were no fertiliser additions. A simple mass balance approach indicated that the amount of nitrogen accumulating in plant biomass and the litter layer plus the assumed nitrogen loss from the site matched the amount of nitrogen lost from the soil organic nitrogen pool. This reduction in soil nitrogen, together with an unchanged C:N ratio, provided a simple and internally consistent explanation for the observed reduction of soil carbon after reforestation. It supports the general notion that trends in soil carbon upon land-use change can often be controlled by the possible fates of available soil nitrogen.", "keywords": ["550", "Nitrogen", "CenW", "Reforesting pasture lands", "910", "Carbon inorganic compounds", "01 natural sciences", "Ecosystems", "Nitrogen compounds", "C:N ratio", "Nitrogen fixation", "Pasture", "Biomass", "Reforestation", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences", "Keywords: Biological materials", "Pinus radiata", "Nitrogen cycling models", "modeling", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "carbon sequestration", "Soil carbon", "Pine", "coniferous tree", "Pine forest", "Soils", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Model"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Roger M. Gifford, LanBin Guo, Miko U. F. Kirschbaum, Miko U. F. Kirschbaum,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/61078/5/Kirschbaum_Observed_and_modelled_soil_carbon.pdf.jpg"}, {"href": "https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/61078/7/01_Kirschbaum_Observed_and_modelled_soil_2008.pdf.jpg"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.08.021"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Soil%20Biology%20and%20Biochemistry", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.08.021", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.08.021", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.08.021"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2008-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=CenW&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=CenW&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=CenW&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=CenW&offset=2", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 2, "numberReturned": 2, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-04-16T01:36:33.052384Z"}