In recent years the use of biomass for energy production has become an increasingly important measure for mitigating global change. While national and EU legislation strongly advocate the further development of the bioenergy sector, the scientific debate has been inconclusive. There is particular concern that land-use change to bioenergy production can lead to CO2 emissions. These emissions result from the loss of vegetation and the soil disturbance when ploughing natural ecosystems and pastures as a preparation for planting bioenergy crops. A possible solution is to use perennial energy crops such as willow or Miscanthus. Recent research on experimental fields has shown a high soil carbon sequestration potential across Europe; however, it can be expected that sequestration rates will differ on commercial plantations.

The aim of this study was to assess the factors influencing soil carbon sequestration under commercial Miscanthus plantations. An initial survey was conducted on 16 farms in south-east Ireland planted in 2006/2007 using the 13C natural abundance method to identify Miscanthus-derived carbon stocks. Annual carbon sequestration rates were 0.62 Mg ha-1±0.59 SD and 0.90 Mg ha-1 ±0.53 SD on former tillage and former grassland, respectively, close to values reported in earlier literature. Mixed effects modelling identified former land-use (grassland or tillage), initial soil organic carbon content, and pH as main explanatory variables for variability in total soil organic and Miscanthus-derived carbon. A comparison with the adjacent former land-use also showed that soil organic carbon losses due to land-use change were not significant.

To analyse the fate of newly sequestered carbon a soil fractionation experiment was performed. The fraction with which the soil organic carbon is associated has a significant impact on decomposability and turn-over time. The results showed the freshly sequestered carbon is mainly found as particulate organic matter (76.9 %), and therefore is in a labile state with short turn-over times. The experiment furthermore shows no significant differences in the distribution of the different soil fractions and soil organic carbon distribution between the Miscanthus and the control sites, representing the former land-use.

At the field scale, a significant number of commercial Miscanthus plantations showed a large number of open patches, possibly impacting crop yield and soil carbon sequestration. Significantly lower Miscanthus-derived carbon values were found in the open patches compared to adjacent high density Miscanthus patches (1.51 ±0.31 Mg ha-1 and 2.78 ±0.25 Mg ha-1, respectively). Using satellite imagery, remote sensing analysis revealed an average loss of 13.69 % ±4.71 SD of the cropped area, leading to a reduction of 7.38 % ±7.34 SD in Miscanthus-derived carbon on a field scale. Using a net present value model and a financial balance approach it could be shown that the patchiness can significantly increase the payback time of the initial investment and reduce the gross margin by up to over 50%.

In conclusion, the analyses show significant carbon sequestration in young commercial Miscanthus sites. However, as the majority of that Miscanthus-derived carbon is still in a labile state, the Miscanthus should be grown on a longer time-scale to ensure benefits. Additionally it was shown, that the introduction of Miscanthus to grasslands does not lead to a significant loss of already existing soil organic carbon, and that one time ploughing events associated with Miscanthus introduction do not lead to a significant disturbance of soil aggregation. Finally it was shown that crop patchiness on a field-scale has a significant impact on crop yield and the formation of Miscanthus-derived carbon stocks.



The data uploaded from this project is divided into three datasets based on papers published in peer reviewed international journals - see below for details:

Paper 1: Zimmermann, J., Dauber, J. and Jones, M. B. (2012), Soil carbon sequestration during the establishment phase of Miscanthus × giganteus: a regional-scale study on commercial farms using13C natural abundance. GCB Bioenergy, 4: 453?461. doi: 10.1111/j.1757-1707.2011.01117.x

Paper 2: Zimmermann, J., Styles, D., Hastings, A., Dauber, J. and Jones, M. B. (2013), Assessing the impact of within crop heterogeneity (?patchiness?) in young Miscanthus × giganteus fields on economic feasibility and soil carbon sequestration. GCB Bioenergy. doi: 10.1111/gcbb.12084

Paper 3: Zimmermann, J., Dondini, M. and Jones, M. B. (2013), Assessing the impacts of the establishment of Miscanthus on soil organic carbon on two contrasting land-use types in Ireland. European Journal of Soil Science. doi: 10.1111/ejss.12087

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This resource has SEMI-PUBLIC availability. This means that the metadata for the resource is available to the public but the data files and information objects connected to the resource are not. There are currently 1 data files and/or information objects connected to this resource. You will need to contact the owners of this resourceto seek their consent to access the files. Contact information for the owners of this resource can be found in the Responsible Parties information section of the metadata.

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SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=3027
Resource Keywords	carbon sequestration, energy crops, land-use change, Miscanthus,
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2007-B-CD-1-S1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Biodiversity
Resource Availability:	Semi-Private
Limitations on the use of this Resource	Time restrictions based on publishing peer reviewed articles from this research are requested. Please contact Dr Jesko Zimmermann for more details zimmerjr@tcd.ie
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	0
Project Start Date	Tuesday 1st April 2008 (01-04-2008)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Monday 1st September 2008 (01-09-2008)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Sunday 30th June 2013 (30-06-2013)
Published on SAFER	Friday 18th October 2013 (18-10-2013)
Date of Last Edit	Monday 21st October 2013 at 15:36:18 (21-10-2013)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Friday 18th October 2013 at 19:27:29 (18-10-2013)

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Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
Data were collected from 16 farms in south east Ireland planted with Miscanthus x giganteus. Eight of the plantations were established on grassland and eight on tilled land.

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