Dataset on conservation with elevated elephant densities sequesters carbon in soils despite losses of woody biomass
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| Title: | Main Title: Dataset on conservation with elevated elephant densities sequesters carbon in soils despite losses of woody biomass |
| Description: | Abstract: Nature conservation and restoration in terrestrial ecosystems is often focused on increasing the numbers of megafauna, expecting them to have positive impacts on ecological self-regulation processes and biodiversity. In sub-Saharan Africa, conservation efforts also aspire to protect and enhance biodiversity with particular focus on elephants. However, elephant browsing carries the risk of woody biomass losses. In this context, little is known about how increasing elephant numbers affects carbon stocks in soils, including the subsoils. We hypothesized that (1) increasing numbers of elephants reduce tree biomass, and thus the amount of C stored therein, resulting (2) in a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). If true, a negative carbon footprint could limit the sustainability of elephant conservation from a global carbon perspective. To test these hypotheses, we selected plots of low, medium, and high elephant densities in two national parks and adjacent conservancies in the Namibian component of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Area (KAZA), and quantified carbon storage in both woody vegetation and soils (1 m). Analyses were supplemented by the assessment of soil carbon isotopic composition. We found that increasing elephant densities resulted in a loss of tree carbon storage by 6.4 t ha−1. However, and in contrast to our second hypothesis, SOC stocks increased by 4.7 t ha−1 with increasing elephant densities. These higher SOC stocks were mainly found in the topsoil (0–30 cm) and were largely due to the formation of SOC from woody biomass. A second carbon input source into the soils was megaherbivore dung, which contributed with 0.02–0.323 t C ha−1 year−1 to ecosystem carbon storage in the low and high elephant density plots, respectively. Consequently, increasing elephant density does not necessarily lead to a negative C footprint, as soil carbon sequestration and transient C storage in dung almost compensate for losses in tree biomass.The dataset contains the raw data of soil analyses up to 1 m soil depth and vegetation data on plot level. A third sheet of the excelfile contains necessary information about abbreviations used within the dataset. |
| Identifier: | 10.5880/TRR228DB.4 (DOI) |
| Related Resource: | Is Documented By Text 10.1111/gcb.15779 (DOI) |
Responsible Party
| Creators: | Alexandra Sandhage-Hofmann (Author), Anja Linstädter (Author), Liana Kindermann (Author), Simon Angombe (Author), Wulf Amelung (Author) |
| Funding Reference: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG): CRC/TRR 228: Future Rural Africa: Future-making and social-ecological transformation |
| Publisher: | CRC/TRR228 Database (TRR228DB) |
| Publication Year: | 2020 |
Topic
| Subjects: | Keywords: Carbon, Soil Organic Carbon, Conservation Areas, Ecosystem, Vegetation |
| Geogr. Information Topic: | Environment |
File Details
| Filename: | Sandhage_TrophicRewilding_data.xlsx |
| Data Type: | Dataset - Dataset |
| File Size: | 160 KB |
| Date: | Created: 07.12.2020 |
| Mime Type: | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet |
| Language: | English |
Constraints
| Download Permission: | Only Own Subproject (Download Embargo will be lifted after project end) |
| Licence: | [Creative Commons] Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) |
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Metadata Details
| Metadata Creator: | Alexandra Sandhage-Hofmann |
| Metadata Created: | 07.12.2020 |
| Metadata Last Updated: | 04.03.2022 |
| Subproject: | A1 |
| Funding Phase: | 1 |
| Metadata Language: | English |
| Metadata Version: | V50 |
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| Page Visits: | 165 |
| Metadata Downloads: | 0 |
| Dataset Downloads: | 1 |
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Adequate reference when this dataset will be discussed or used in any publication or presentation is mandatory. In this case please contact the dataset creator.
