10.5061/DRYAD.CFXPNVX2V
Robertson, G
0000-0001-9771-9895
Michigan State University
Ruan, Leilei
Michigan State University
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Data from: No‐till establishment improves the climate benefit of bioenergy
crops on marginal grasslands
Dryad
dataset
2020
United States Department of Energy
https://ror.org/01bj3aw27
DE-SC0018409
United States Department of Energy
https://ror.org/01bj3aw27
DE-ACO5-76RL01830
National Science Foundation LTER Program**
1832042
Michigan State University
https://ror.org/05hs6h993
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
DEB 1027253
National Science Foundation LTER Program*
1832042
2020-06-25T00:00:00Z
2020-06-25T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20082
501683 bytes
3
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Expanding biofuel production is expected to accelerate the conversion of
unmanaged marginal lands to meet biomass feedstock needs. Greenhouse gas
production during conversion jeopardizes ensuing climate benefits, but
most research to date has focused only on conversion to annual crops and
only following tillage. Here we report the global warming impact of
converting USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) grasslands to three
types of bioenergy crops using no-till (NT) versus conventional tillage
(CT). In three CRP fields planted to continuous corn, switchgrass, or
restored prairie we established replicated NT and CT plots. For the two
years following an initial soybean year in all fields, we found that, on
average, NT conversion reduced nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions by 50% and
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20% compared to CT conversion.
Differences were higher in year 1 than in year 2 in the continuous corn
field, and in the two perennial systems the differences disappeared after
year 1. In all fields net CO2 emissions (as measured by eddy covariance)
were positive for the first two years following CT establishment, but
following NT establishment net CO2 emissions were close to zero or
negative, indicating net C sequestration. Overall, NT improved the global
warming impact of biofuel crop establishment following CRP conversion by
over 20-fold compared to CT (-6.01 Mg CO2e ha-1 yr-1 for NT vs. -0.25 Mg
CO2e ha-1 yr-1 for CT, on average). We also found that IPCC estimates of
N2O emissions (as measured by static chambers) greatly underestimated
actual emissions for converted fields regardless of tillage. Policies
should encourage adoption of NT for converting marginal grasslands to
perennial bioenergy crops in order to reduce carbon debt and maximize
climate benefits.
Methods of data collection and processing are given in the associated
SSSAJ publication.
Data set description is given in the file
"readme_no-till_establishment.txt".