DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk0x1
title: Data from: Soil carbon change in intensive agriculture after 25 years of conservation management

description: Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) are strongly
 affected by land management, but few long-term comparative studies have
 surveyed changes throughout the whole soil profile. We quantified 25-year
 SOC and SON changes to 1 m in 10 replicate ecosystems at an Upper Midwest,
 USA site. We compared four annual cropping systems in maize (Zea
 mays)-soybean (Glycine max)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum)
 rotations, each managed differently (Conventional, No-till, Reduced input,
 and Biologically based); in three managed perennial systems (hybrid Poplar
 (Populus × euramericana), Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and
 Conifer (Pinus spp.); and in three successional systems (Early,
 Mid- and Late succession undergoing a gradual change in species
 composition and structure over time). Both Reduced input and Biologically
 based systems included winter cover crops. Neither SOC nor SON changed
 significantly in the Conventional or Late successional systems over 25
 years. All other systems gained SOC and SON to different degrees. SOC
 accrual was fastest in the Early successional system
 (0.8 ± 0.1 Mg C ha−1 y−1) followed by
 Alfalfa and Conifer (avg. 0.7 ± 0.1 Mg C
 ha−1 y−1), Poplar, Reduced input, and Biologically based systems
 (avg. 0.4 ± 0.1 Mg C ha−1 y−1), and
 Mid-successional and No-till systems (0.3 and 0.2 Mg C
 ha−1 y−1, respectively). Over the most recent 12 years, rates of
 SOC accrual slowed in all systems except Reduced input and
 Mid-successional. There was no evidence of SOC loss at depth in any
 system, including No-till. Rates of SON accrual ranged from 64.7 to
 0.8 kg N ha−1 y−1 in the order
 Alfalfa ≥ Early
 successional &gt; Reduced input and Biologically
 based ≥ Poplar &gt; No-till and
 Conifer &gt; Mid-successional systems. Pyrogenic C
 levels in the Conventional, Early, and Late successional systems were
 similar despite 17 years of annual burning in the Early successional
 system (∼ 15 % of SOC to 50 cm, on average, and
 ∼40 % of SOC from 50 to 100 cm). Results underscore the
 importance of cover crops, perennial crops, and no-till options for
 sequestering whole profile C in intensively managed croplands.
description: # Data from: Soil carbon change in intensive agriculture after 25years of
 conservation management **Authors** Córdova, S.C., Kravchenko A. N.,
 Miesel, J., Robertson, G. P. **Article Information** Published in Geoderma
 (2025) DOI:
 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117133](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117133) **Dataset Description** This dataset contains soil carbon measurements and related properties from annual cropping systems, managed perennials, and successional systems in Southwestern Michigan. The data includes soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) content and stocks, soil bulk density, pyrogenic carbon, and other soil characteristics at various depths up to 100 cm deep. **Methods** Soil samples were taken at various depths using a hydraulic sampling probe. Detailed methodology can be found in the associated publication. **Usage Notes** * Missing data is represented by a period (.) * Depths are cumulative: "0-10cm", "10-25 cm", "25-50 cm", and "50-end cm" * SOC and SON stocks for 0-100cm are only provided for the deepest sample in each core **Citation** **Córdova, S.C.,** Kravchenko A. N., Miesel, J., Robertson, G. P., 2024. Soil carbon change in intensive agriculture after 25 years of conservation management. *Geoderma*, *453*, 117133. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117133](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117133 "Persistent link using digital object identifier") **Contact Information** For questions regarding this dataset, please contact the corresponding authors `cordova.sc@gmail.com` (S.C. C´ordova), `robert30@msu.edu` (G.P. Robertson). ### Files and variables **File Information** Filename: Cordova-et-al.-Soil-C-Dryad.xlsx Format: Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet (.xlsx) **Excel Tab Description:** `TAB #1. Table 2,3,Fig. 1,TS1-4` This tab contains the database used for the following tables and figures: * Table 2. Soil bulk density and organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) concentrations and stocks with soil depth in 10 systems of the KBS LTER Main Cropping System Experiment in 2013. - Table 3 database. Minimum detectable change (MDC) for different soil attributes based on the probability of detecting a statistically significant (α =0.05, β =0.90) system effect in future samplings. - Figure 1. Stocks of soil organic carbon (top panels) and nitrogen (bottom panels) with depth for the ten ecosystems examined in this study. - Table Supplementary 1. Percentage of gravel by depth interval - Table Supplementary 2. Gravel-free soil bulk density ± SE (g cm-3 ) after pooling values reported in main text Table 2 for those treatments and intervals that were not significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) - Table Supplementary 3. Whole-profile (0-100 cm) soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) stocks by system. Data are means ± SE (n=3-6 replicate systems as noted in main text Table 1). - Table Supplementary 4.  Soil carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratios. `TAB #2. Table 4` This tab contains the database used for the following table: * Table 4. Soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) stocks of the whole (0–100 cm) soil profile in the Conventional and Late successional systems in archived 2001 soils, 2013 soils, and newly sampled 2022 (Conventional only) soils `TAB #3. Table 5&6, Fig2, 3, TS5` This tab contains the database used for the following tables and figures: * Table 5. Gain in soil organic carbon (SOC) and nitrogen (SON) in whole soil profiles (0–100 cm depth) over the 25-year period of this experiment (1989–2013). Data are means ± SE (n = 3–6 replicate systems as noted in [Table 1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706124003628?via%3Dihub#t0005)). * Table 6. Rates of gain in whole-profile soil organic carbon (SOC) after 12 and 25 years of differential management. * Figure 2. Absolute soil organic carbon change over 25 years with depth and (bottom panels) for the whole profile. Data are means ± SE (n = 3–6 sites per system). * Figure 3. Absolute soil organic nitrogen change over 25 years of continuous management with depth and (bottom panels) for the whole soil profile. Data are means ± SE (n = 3–6 sites per system). * Table Supplementary 5. Studies that include SOC stocks from different long-term field experiments (≥ 6 years) on Alfisol and selected Mollisol soils. na = not available. `TAB #4 Table7 & Fig4` This tab contains the database used for the following table and figure: * Table 7. Pyrogenic carbon (PyC) concentrations as a percentage of the total amount of soil organic carbon (SOC), and PyC stocks with depth. Data are means ± SE (n = 3–6 replicate systems as noted in [Table 1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016706124003628?via%3Dihub#t0005)). * Figure 4. Pyrogenic carbon (PyC) stocks with depth. **Variables** * year: Year of sampling * system: Cropping system (Annual, Perennial, Unmanaged) * treatment: all treatments were grouped by system type, in the following order: * Annual Row Crop (maize-soybean-winter wheat rotation) treatments: Conventional; No-till; Reduced input; Biologically based.  * Managed Perennial System treatments: Poplar; Alfalfa; Conifer forest. * Successional System treatments: Early successional; Mid-successional; Late-successional. * replicate: Replicate number * station: Sampling station * core: Soil core number * section: Soil depth section * cum_depth_cm: Cumulative depth in centimeters * layer_depth_cm: Layer depth in centimeters * new_layer_cm: New layer depth in centimeters * soil_dwt_kg/m2: Soil dry weight in kg/m² * cum_soil_dw_kg/m2: Cumulative soil dry weight in kg/m² * gravel_prct: Gravel percentage * Carbon_g C/kg soil: Carbon content in g C/kg soil * Nitrogen_gN/kg soil: Nitrogen content in g N/kg soil * Carbon-to-Nitrogen_ratio: Carbon to Nitrogen ratio * measured_gravel_free_bulkdensity_g/cm3: Measured gravel-free bulk density in g/cm³ * avg_gravelfree_bulkdensity_g/cm3: Average gravel-free bulk density in g/cm³ * SOC_stocks_layer_Mg C/ha: Soil organic carbon stocks per layer in Mg C/ha * SON_sotcks_layer_Mg N/ha: Soil organic nitrogen stocks per layer in Mg N/ha * SOC_stocks_0-100cm_Mg C/ha: Soil organic carbon stocks for 0-100cm depth in Mg C/ha * SON_stocks_0-100cm_Mg N/ha: Soil organic nitrogen stocks for 0-100cm depth in Mg N/ha * Gain_layer_SOC_Mg C/ha: Soil organic carbon stock change reported by soil depth section in Mg C/ha * Gain_layer_SON_Mg N/ha: Soil organic nitrogen stock change reported by soil depth section in Mg N/ha * Gain_SOC_0-100cm_Mg C/ha: Soil organic carbon stock change reported from the whole profile 0-100cm depth in Mg C/ha * Gain_SON_0-100cm_Mg C/ha: Soil organic nitrogen stock change reported from the whole profile 0-100cm depth in Mg N/ha * rateSOC_layer_Mg C/ha/year: Annual soil organic carbon stock rate of change reported by soil depth section in Mg C/ha/year * rateSON_layer_Mg N/ha/year: Annual soil organic nitrogen stock rate of change reported by soil depth section in kg N/ha/year * rateSOC_0-100cm_Mg C/ha/year: Annual soil organic carbon stock rate of change reported from the whole profile 0-100cm depth in Mg C/ha/year * rateSON_0-100cm_Mg N/ha/year: Annual soil organic nitrogen stock rate of change reported from the whole profile 0-100cm depth in kg N/ha/year * PyC_of_SOC_% of SOC: Pyrogenic carbon content in g/100 g soil organic carbon in the sample by soil depth section * PyC_content_Mg PyC/ha: Pyrogenic carbon stocks by soil depth section in Mg PyC/ha ## Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: * Not applicable Data was derived from the following sources: * Not applicable