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Assessing carbon pool dynamics in the grass layer and in the soil

This work package builds on large existing datasets, in particular data generated within the framework of work package 2.2 within WASCAL I. WP2 includes the following tasks:

  1. Assess Carbon Pools in the Soil: We will calculate plot-level and site-level carbon pools based on the plot data from Ghana and Burkina Faso that were created within the framework of the PhD studies of Dr. Reginald Guuroh (PI of GreenGaDe) and Jessica Ferner. Data come from 44 sites (9 -10 plots per site) distributed along a steep climatic gradient from northern Burkina Faso to central Ghana. Soil samples were taken up to a maximum depth of 100 cm. Up to now, only topsoil samples have been analysed; within the framework of GreenGaDe, the subsoil samples will be analysed for soil texture, pH, and soil organic carbon.
  2. Assess Carbon Soils in Herbaceous Vegetation: We will use a novel allometric method that was developed within WASCAL I based on field data from Burkina Faso and Ghana (PhD thesis of Kristijan Canak) to estimate herbaceous species’ aboveground biomass from cover, height and phenology from existing data. We will validate these estimations via destructive harvests, as recommended for allometric biomass models (Chave et al., 2014), and convert them to carbon stocks.

Project members involved:

Dr. Amanuel Gebremichael with Prof. Dr. Anja Linstädter (UP)