Data for: Conversion of forest to cinnamon plantation depletes soil carbon stocks in the top metre of the tropical highlands of Kerinci Regency, Jambi Province, Indonesia

Description

We quantified SOC stocks down the soil profile under cinnamon plantations of different ages in three locations in Kerinci Regency, Jambi Province, Indonesia. We collected soil cores at 10 cm intervals down the soil profile (to 1 m) to calculate total stocks of SOC under these land uses and to investigate the effect that natural forest conversion to cinnamon plantation has on topsoil and subsoil carbon. We then investigated whether the chemical composition of soil organic matter (SOM) changes down the soil profile and whether this was different under different land uses.

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Our study area was in the Kerinci Regency, Jambi Province of Indonesia, located in the highest elevation land of Jambi Province. The regency is situated between 1o 40’ and 2o 4’ S, 101o 8’ and 101o 50’ E, surrounded by Kerinci Seblat National Park and Kerinci Mountain. Three villages were selected because they were identified as major cinnamon producing areas in Kerinci Regency. These villages were Lempur, Pungut, and Renah Kayu Embun (RKE) villages. At each village soil samples were collected from four sites; a patch of natural forest and three cinnamon plantations that were 1, 5, and 10 years old, adopting a random stratified sampling strategy. Samples were collected by digging a soil pit at each site and collecting a core every 10 cm down the soil profile to 1 m using a 176.63 cm3 bulk density ring (height = 4 cm, diameter = 7.5 cm), alongside a second soil sample for chemical analysis. Bulk density of each soil layer was measured on an oven-dry basis by weighing the contents of each ring after drying at 105 °C for 24 hours. Soil samples collected alongside bulk density rings were air dried and sieved through a 2 mm screen prior to further analysis. Carbon and nitrogen were analysed by dry combustion methods using a Thermo Flash 2000 C/N analyzer. Each duplicate subsample was ground to a fine powder using a ball mill, and 10 mg weighed into a tin cup before analysis. We calculated SOC stocks in each 10 cm soil layer using the following equation: Ct = BD x SOC x D Where Ct is the SOC stock (Mg ha-1), BD is the soil bulk density (g m-3), SOC is the soil carbon concentration (%), and D is the soil sampling thickness (10 cm). The stocks for each 10 cm soil layer were summed to calculate the carbon stock in Mg ha-1 to a depth of 1 m.

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