Quantifying and mapping topsoil inorganic carbon concentrations and stocks: approaches tested in France

Soils act as a sink or a source of atmospheric carbon, and great efforts are made to monitor soil organic carbon stocks, but soil inorganic carbon (SIC) stocks are not measured by many national- and continental-scale soil monitoring networks. Topsoil (0–30 cm) SIC concentrations were determined for > 2000 sites on a regular 16-km grid as part of the French, Réseau de Mesures de la Qualité des Sols (RMQS). We used design-based statistical methods to calculate unbiased estimates of the mean SIC concentration and total stocks across France. Model-based methods were used to determine the uncertainty of these estimates and to map the spatial distribution of these quantities. Observations of inorganic carbon were highly skewed and did not conform to standard statistical models. Data were normalized using a nonparametric transformation. The estimates and predictions of inorganic carbon are baselines against which the results of future phases of the network can be compared. We found that the total topsoil inorganic carbon stocks in France amount to 1070 ± 61 Tg, ca. one-third of the corresponding organic carbon stocks. Spatial distribution of SIC was strongly linked to the underlying geology. We tested the reliability of estimating SIC concentrations and stocks from the French Soil Test Database, which contains the results of 280 000 soil analyses requested by farmers between 1990 and 2004. A biased estimate of soil inorganic carbon concentrations resulted, presumably because soil samples were selected according to concerns of farmers rather than by a statistical design

Evaluation of modelling approaches for predicting the spatial distribution of soil organic carbon stocks at the national scale

Soil organic carbon (SOC) plays a major role in the global carbon budget. It can act as a source or a sink of atmospheric carbon, thereby possibly influencing the course of climate change. Improving the tools that model the spatial distributions of SOC stocks at national scales is a priority, both for monitoring changes in SOC and as an input for global carbon cycles studies. In this paper, we compare and evaluate two recent and promising modelling approaches. First, we considered several increasingly complex boosted regression trees (BRT), a convenient and efficient multiple regression model from the statistical learning field. Further, we considered a robust geostatistical approach coupled to the BRT models. Testing the different approaches was performed on the dataset from the French Soil Monitoring Network, with a consistent cross-validation procedure. We showed that when a limited number of predictors were included in the BRT model, the standalone BRT predictions were significantly improved by robust geostatistical modelling of the residuals. However, when data for several SOC drivers were included, the standalone BRT model predictions were not significantly improved by geostatistical modelling. Therefore, in this latter situation, the BRT predictions might be considered adequate without the need for geostatistical modelling, provided that i) care is exercised in model fitting and validating, and ii) the dataset does not allow for modelling of local spatial autocorrelations, as is the case for many national systematic sampling schemes

A survey of topsoil arsenic and mercury concentrations across France

Even at low concentrations, the presence of arsenic and mercury in soils can lead to ecological and health impacts. The recent European-wide LUCAS Topsoil Survey found that the arsenic concentration of a large proportion of French soils exceeded a threshold which indicated that further investigation was required. A much smaller proportion of soils exceeded the corresponding threshold for mercury but the impacts of mining and industrial activities on mercury concentrations are not well understood. We use samples from the French national soil monitoring network (RMQS: Réseau de Mesures de la Qualité des Sols) to explore the variation of topsoil arsenic and mercury concentrations across mainland France at a finer spatial resolution than was reported by LUCAS Topsoil. We use geostatistical methods to map the expected concentrations of these elements in the topsoil and the probabilities that the legislative thresholds are exceeded. We find that, with the exception of some areas where the geogenic concentrations and soil adsorption capacities are very low, arsenic concentrations are generally larger than the threshold which indicates that further assessment of the area is required. The lower of two other guideline values indicating risks to ecology or health is exceeded in fewer than 5% of RMQS samples. These exceedances occur in localised hot-spots primarily associated with mining and mineralization. The probabilities of mercury concentrations exceeding the further assessment threshold value are everywhere less than 0.01 and none of the RMQS samples exceed either of the ecological and health risk thresholds. However, there are some regions with elevated concentrations which can be related to volcanic material, natural mineralizations and industrial contamination. These regions are more diffuse than the hot-spots of arsenic reflecting the greater volatility of mercury and therefore the greater ease with which it can be transported and redeposited. The maps provide a baseline against which future phases of the RMQS can be compared and highlight regions where the threat of soil contamination and its impacts should be more closely monitored

Estimation de stocks de carbone organique des sols à différentes échelles d'espace et de temps

National audienceCet article traite de l’estimation des stocks de carbone organique des sols à différentes échelles d’espace et de temps. Dans une première partie nous passons en revue les principales échelles de variabilité des stocks de carbone des sols et nous en tirons des recommandations quant aux techniques à utiliser pour leur estimation et des considérations sur les incertitudes associées à ces estimations. Nous analysons ensuite les conséquences de cette variabilité sur la faisabilité de la détection de changements au cours du temps et sur l’optimisation des dispositifs de surveillance in situ. Dans une dernière partie nous comparons différentes techniques analytiques et nous développons l’apport potentiel que pourraient représenter les techniques de spectrométrie infra-rouge

Spatial distribution of soil organic carbon stocks in France

Soil organic carbon plays a major role in the global carbon budget, and can act as a source or a sink of atmospheric carbon, thereby possibly influencing the course of climate change. Changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks are now taken into account in international negotiations regarding climate change. Consequently, developing sampling schemes and models for estimating the spatial distribution of SOC stocks is a priority. The French soil monitoring network has been established on a 16 km × 16 km grid and the first sampling campaign has recently been completed, providing around 2200 measurements of stocks of soil organic carbon, obtained through an in situ composite sampling, uniformly distributed over the French territory. <br><br> We calibrated a boosted regression tree model on the observed stocks, modelling SOC stocks as a function of other variables such as climatic parameters, vegetation net primary productivity, soil properties and land use. The calibrated model was evaluated through cross-validation and eventually used for estimating SOC stocks for mainland France. Two other models were calibrated on forest and agricultural soils separately, in order to assess more precisely the influence of pedo-climatic variables on SOC for such soils. <br><br> The boosted regression tree model showed good predictive ability, and enabled quantification of relationships between SOC stocks and pedo-climatic variables (plus their interactions) over the French territory. These relationships strongly depended on the land use, and more specifically, differed between forest soils and cultivated soil. The total estimate of SOC stocks in France was 3.260 ± 0.872 PgC for the first 30 cm. It was compared to another estimate, based on the previously published European soil organic carbon and bulk density maps, of 5.303 PgC. We demonstrate that the present estimate might better represent the actual SOC stock distributions of France, and consequently that the previously published approach at the European level greatly overestimates SOC stocks

Історія радянської України в бібліографічних покажчиках англомовних праць другої половини ХХ століття

У статті проаналізовано бібліографічні покажчики англомовної слов’янознавчої та радянознавчої літератури, видрукувані в англомовних країнах протягом другої половини ХХ ст. Зроблено спробу визначити місце, яке у них займали праці з історії України, зокрема ті, що стосуватися пізньосталінського та хрущовського періодів.В статье анализируются библиографические указатели англоязычной славяноведческой и советологической литературы, опубликованные в англоязычных странах во второй половине ХХ века. Сделана попытка охарактеризовать положение, которое в них занимала история Советской Украины, особенно ее позднесталинский и хрущевский периоды.In the article, the bibliographic guides to the English-language publications in Slavic, East European and Soviet Studies that were published in the second half of the 20th century are analyzed. The special attention is given to history of Ukraine from the second half of the 1940s till the mid-1960s as a particular subject in those guides

Fertilité des sols: conclusions du rapport sur l'état des sols de France

Les sols constituent une ressource naturelle non renouvelable. Leurs usages et leur devenir représentent un enjeu collectif majeur, tant pour les activités agricoles ou sylvicoles que pour la préservation de la qualité de notre environnement. Après dix ans de travaux, le Groupement d’Intérêt Scientifique sur les sols, le Gis Sol, a dressé le premier bilan scientifiquement quantifié de l’état des sols de France métropolitaine et d’Outre-mer dans un rapport sur l’état des sols de France publié en 2011. Ce rapport relève des points positifs mais également un certain nombre de préoccupations du point de vue de la fertilité. Les sols agricoles ne présentent pas d’évolution mesurable de leur acidité, ce quiindique une bonne gestion du pH à l’échelle nationale. Le rapport fait en revanche état de teneurs en phosphore relativement faibles pour de nombreux sols, et à l’inverse de situations d’excédents très préoccupantes en raison de son impact sur la qualité des eaux et l’eutrophisation des milieux. Il pose ainsi la question de la durabilité à long terme du système agricole actuel et celle d’une meilleure valorisation des effluents d’élevage. D’assez nombreuses situations pourraient également être susceptibles de provoquer des carences en oligo-éléments pour des cultures exigeantes. Enfin, une inquiétude majeure concerne la progression de l’artificialisation des sols, qui s’est accélérée durant la dernière décennie et occasionne des pertes importantes de sols agricoles.Soils are a non-renewable, natural resource. Their uses and their future represent, therefore, a collective issue for agricultural and forestry production, as well as for the preservation of our environment. After ten years of work, the “Groupement d’intérêt scientifique sur les sols”, the Gis Sol (Soils Scientific Interest Group) has presented the first appraisal of soil quality in mainland France and its overseas territories in a report on the state of the soils in France published in 2011. This appraisal shows evidence for positive points but also highlights some concerns regarding soil fertility. Agricultural soils do not show a measurable change in their acidity, thus indicating an efficient management of pH at a national level. On the other hand, the report shows relatively low phosphorus levels for numerous soils, and inversely situations of structural excess which remain very worrying due to its impact on water quality and on the eutrophication of the environments. It also raises the questionsof the long-term sustainability of current cultivation systems and of a better treatment of effluents from livestock farming. Numerous situations also seem to be incompatible, for certain oligo-elements, with demanding cultures. At last, a major concern is the development of soil sealing, which has accelerated over the last decade and is responsible for the loss of large areas of agricultural soils