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Re: grasslands: CO2 and rainwater capture

Lee
	Thie following qoute is from:

Rice, Todd, Blair, Seastedt, Ramundo, and Wilson. 1998. Belowground
biology and processes. pp. 244-264 in Knapp, Briggs, Hartnett, and Collins
(eds.) Grassland dynamics: long-term ecological research in tallgrass
prairie. Oxford University Press.

	"Vegetation type also greatly affects soil organic matter amounts.
In a given area, grasslands produce a greater accumulation of soil organic
matter than forests under similar climatic conditions (Seastedt and Knapp
1993). The greater soil organic matter content in prairie is due partly to
the greater allocation of C belowground compared with forests."

The Seastedt and Knapp (1993) reference is:

Consequences of non-equilibrium resource availability across multiple time
scales: the transient maxima hypothesis. American Naturalist 141:621-633.

	I don't know offhand any reference to help you with your rainwater 
infiltration question, however a quick guess on my part would be that soil
type would have a far greater influence on infiltration, regardless of
the vegetation growing on it.  For example, sandy soils should absorb
rainfall very well no matter what is growing on them, while clay soils
that are already wet will probably absorb very little.  But another
possibility that is worth pondering relates to the above qoute.  If
infiltration is positively related to organic matter content, then soils
with relatively high organic matter (i.e. grassland soils) should have
relatively high infiltration rates.  Hope this helps.

Steve


 On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Lee Stone wrote:

> Could anyone speak to the following questions?
> 
> Is it true that praires/grasslands are 
> 
> the most efficient/effective plant community for the removal of CO2 from the
> air, and 
> they also are the best plant community for capturing rainwater and moving it
> into the ground?
> 
> If these things are true, where is it written?  Any help is appreciated
> 
> Lee Stone
> 

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