Modeling Soil Carbon Dynamics in Tropical Ecosystems

This chapter reviews the soil carbon models participating in the Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems Soil Organic Matter Network. It describes the application of Rothamsted Carbon Model (RothC) to a temperate dataset originating from Hungary. Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a central role in nutrient availability, soil stability and in the flux of trace greenhouse gases between land surface and the atmosphere. All SOM models are highly dependent upon the quality and quantity of carbon inputs to the soil system. The ability to predict the effects of climate, atmospheric composition and land-use change on SOM dynamics is essential in formulating environmental, agricultural and social/economic policies. The chapter presents examples of the application of one SOM model, RothC, to semi-arid and tropical ecosystems beginning with a recent example of the application of RothC in a semi-arid agroecosystem in Syria and then the application of RothC to a tropical forest-pasture chronosequence in Brazil.