Compost Amendment to a Grazed California Annual Grassland Increases Gross Primary Productivity Due To a Longer Growing Season

Abstract

Compost amendment to rangelands is a proposed nature-based climate solution to increase plant productivity and soil carbon sequestration. However, it has not been evaluated using quasicontinuous ecosystem-scale measurements. Here, we present the first study to utilize eddy covariance and footprint partitioning to monitor carbon exchange in a grassland with and without compost amendment, monitoring for 1 year before and 1 year after treatment. Compost amendment to an annual California grassland was found to enhance net ecosystem removal of carbon. Our study confirmed that compost-amended grasslands, similar to nonamended grasslands, are net carbon sources to the atmosphere; however, the amendment appears to be slowing down the rate at which these ecosystems lose carbon by 0.71 Mg C ha−1 per growing season. Digital repeated imagery of the canopy revealed that compost-amended grasslands experienced an earlier green-up, resulting in an overall longer growing season by >60 days. Notably, we did not detect significantly higher amounts of soil carbon in compost-amended soils. High variability in soil carbon demands greater sampling replication in future studies. A longer growing season and higher productivity are hypothesized to be a result of greater availability of macronutrients and micronutrients in the top layer of soil (specifically nitrogen, phosphorus, and zinc).