Guido Wiesenberg: Carbon sequestration in subsoils by plant roots: Opportunity or myth?

In the last years, plant roots have been frequently proposed to significantly contribute to carbon sequestration in subsoils. However, these systems are difficult to study and the question remains, whether plants can sustainably sequester carbon in the subsoil via their root systems. With the example of the Nussloch (SW Germany) loess-paleosol sequence we studied the carbon budget in the rooted subsoil and the root-driven effects that can be determined even thousands of years after the lifetime of the roots and up to 9 m depth. In brief, a strong dependency of root features, their frequencies and the carbon gain or loss was observed and will be presented.