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Background <p>The Río de la Plata Grasslands (RPG) experienced a substantial agricultural expansion and intensification over the last three decades, with considerable impacts on C stocks among other ecosystem services. Converting agricultural land back to grassland is thus proposed as a strategy for removing atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and sequestering carbon in the form of soil organic matter. However, the temporal dynamics of C recovery during spontaneous grassland restoration is still uncertain for this region. This study aims to describe the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) recovery in fields with agricultural use in the past, in one of the most transformed regions of the RPG. For this purpose, we used a spatial chronosequence approach to sample rice old-fields (the main crop in this area) with similar soil types but different times since abandonment (2–25&#xa0;years), allowing us to assess temporal patterns of SOC recovery in the absence of long-term monitoring data. These empirical data were then compared with simulations from the Century model, which incorporated different agricultural histories and grazing intensities following abandonment.</p> Results <p>The time required for the stabilization of carbon stocks depends on the magnitude of SOC losses generated by previous agricultural use and the subsequent grazing management, with recovery being slower in old-fields that experienced greater carbon depletion. Both approaches revealed SOC recovery over time; however, early accumulation rates were much higher in empirical data (10.5 vs. 0.6&#xa0;t C ha⁻<sup>1</sup>&#xa0;yr⁻<sup>1</sup>), likely because they integrate diverse agricultural histories and grazing intensities that the Century model separates into distinct scenarios.</p> Conclusions <p>The different Century simulations integrate the variability that is not possible to discriminate with a field based approach, allowing us to correct possible artifacts and to generate more accurate predictions of how the system responds to different agricultural and post-agricultural management. After 30&#xa0;years of agricultural abandonment, accumulation rates derived from both approaches stabilize at values consistent with those expected for grassland ecosystems. This suggests that carbon accumulation could compensate for up to approximately two-thirds of the methane emissions generated by livestock grazing, highlighting the potential contribution of restored grasslands to climate change mitigation.</p>

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Recovery of soil organic carbon stocks in old-fields of the Río de la Plata Grasslands: an empirical and simulation-based approach

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月6日

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  • C. Ríos,
  • P. Baldassini,
  • J. Paruelo,
  • A. Altesor

摘要

Background

The Río de la Plata Grasslands (RPG) experienced a substantial agricultural expansion and intensification over the last three decades, with considerable impacts on C stocks among other ecosystem services. Converting agricultural land back to grassland is thus proposed as a strategy for removing atmospheric CO2 and sequestering carbon in the form of soil organic matter. However, the temporal dynamics of C recovery during spontaneous grassland restoration is still uncertain for this region. This study aims to describe the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) recovery in fields with agricultural use in the past, in one of the most transformed regions of the RPG. For this purpose, we used a spatial chronosequence approach to sample rice old-fields (the main crop in this area) with similar soil types but different times since abandonment (2–25 years), allowing us to assess temporal patterns of SOC recovery in the absence of long-term monitoring data. These empirical data were then compared with simulations from the Century model, which incorporated different agricultural histories and grazing intensities following abandonment.

Results

The time required for the stabilization of carbon stocks depends on the magnitude of SOC losses generated by previous agricultural use and the subsequent grazing management, with recovery being slower in old-fields that experienced greater carbon depletion. Both approaches revealed SOC recovery over time; however, early accumulation rates were much higher in empirical data (10.5 vs. 0.6 t C ha⁻1 yr⁻1), likely because they integrate diverse agricultural histories and grazing intensities that the Century model separates into distinct scenarios.

Conclusions

The different Century simulations integrate the variability that is not possible to discriminate with a field based approach, allowing us to correct possible artifacts and to generate more accurate predictions of how the system responds to different agricultural and post-agricultural management. After 30 years of agricultural abandonment, accumulation rates derived from both approaches stabilize at values consistent with those expected for grassland ecosystems. This suggests that carbon accumulation could compensate for up to approximately two-thirds of the methane emissions generated by livestock grazing, highlighting the potential contribution of restored grasslands to climate change mitigation.