ABSTRACT
Land-use change and fossil fuel combustion are linked to the climate change, defined as a “change of climate attributed to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere.” The impacts of projected climate change on soil properties, soil organic carbon (SOC) pool and dynamics, and susceptibility to erosion are not known. A principal unknown is the effect of increase in global temperature on SOC pool as affected by change in net primary productivity, possible increase in the rate of mineralization of SOC, and in susceptibility to soil erosion. Gaseous emissions from terrestrial ecosystems are exacerbated by soil degradation. The soil organic matter comprises the sum of all organic substances in soil. It consists of a mixture of plant and animal residues at various stages of decomposition, of substances synthesized microbiologically and chemically from the breakdown products, and of the bodies of live microorganisms and small animals and their decomposition by-products.
