The Structural and practical Investigation of the Rothamsted Model in Assessing the Effect of Climate Change on Soil Carbon Sources

Abstract

Many studies have projected increasing the temperature with decreasing precipitation for future decades in different regions of Iran. But, few studies have evaluated the effect of climate change on the dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) sources. One of the obstacles is the lack of recognition of carbon models and the lack of sufficient information on the required data and how to supply the data. The purpose of present study was to investigate the structural and practical application of the RothC model as the most widely used model worldwide for assessing the effects of climate change on soil carbon sources. In this study, the model’s function for calculating SOC and the factors affecting SOC decomposition, including temperature correction coefficient, moisture correction coefficient, and vegetation correction coefficient were completely investigated. Then, in the application section of the model, the required data and how to provide them in the conditions of Iran, and finally validation and implementation of the model for future climate conditions were discussed. Results showed that the RothC model is now the best carbon model for Iran conditions due to the simplicity and availability of the required data to its implementation. Generally, the present study provides useful information needed in implementation and validating the RothC model to simulate and predict the effects of climate change on the dynamics of soil carbon sources.

Keywords

• global warming
• modeling
• rothamsted model
• soil organic carbon