Estimating changes in Scottish soil carbon stocks using ECOSSE. II. Application

Abstract

Accurate predictions of the effects of changes in climate and land use on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are vital for informing land-use policy. Peatlands, characterized as high carbon (C) soils, cover approximately 4 million km 2 globally, with a total C stock estimated in 2008 to be ~450 Pg C (Joosten 2009), and highly organic soils can make a significant contribution to national GHG emissions. For example, ~15% of Scotland's total GHG emissions come from land-use changes on Scotland's C-rich soils (Smith et al. 2007a). Therefore, it is essential that national simulations of changes in soil C stocks include accurate simulation of highly organic soils. However, the majority of models that are currently used to predict differences in soil C and nitrogen (N) caused by climate or land-use changes have been derived from models originally developed for mineral