Impacts of changing land use on soil functions

Why?

In the past, soils have often been managed for a specific use with little consideration of the consequences for other soil functions. The challenge is to manage our soils effectively so that they can maintain the capacity to deliver a range of functions at a range of scales under a changing climate.

Current projects

• Quantifying changes to soil carbon when establishing woodlands
• Practical approaches for restoration of degraded peatlands to achieve carbon sequestration
• Predicting the influence of soil management on greenhouse gas emissions
• Predicting how changes in climate and management influence N2O emissions at national and regional scales
• Simulating the effects of future climate and land use change on the cycling of carbon and nitrogen in Scottish soils
• Predicting phosphorus leaching from Scottish soils and long-term change in soil P status

Outcomes

• Improved information on the effects of land use or climate change on carbon and nitrogen cycling in organic rich soils at a range of scales
• Capacity to forecast the effects of future scenarios of land use and climate change on soils at the landscape scale
• Practical approaches to managing soils to minimise GHG emission and maximise C sequestration in soil

Contacts

• Stephen Chapman, The James Hutton Insitute
• Bob Rees, Scotland's Rural College