Meine van Noordwijk, Kurniatun Hairiah, Paul L. Woomer, Daniel Murdiyarso
This chapter focuses on the initial results of the Alternatives to Slash and Bum project in Indonesia for a review of measurable indicators and historic data. It discusses the C-saturation deficit and Corg fractionation as two approaches to make changes in soil organic matter (SOM) more readily quantifiable. For both of these indicators, the chapter presents a scientific rationale, a suggested protocol for assessment and reviews the data available for interpreting results. Forest soils may lose a considerable part of their SOM content after changes in management or conversion to other land use. Models of SOM, such as the CENTURY model assume a number of pools of different turnover rates, but the measurement of such pools is an area of active research and method improvement. The Ludox fractionation method gives more sensitive indicators for studying C dynamics than total soil Corg, especially for the 0- to 5-cm depth. © 1998. Soil Science Society of America.
ICRAF-Southeast Asia, Bogor, Indonesia; Brawijaya University, Malang, Indonesia; Tropical Soil Biology and Fertility Programme, Nairobi, Kenya; Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Tropical Biology, Global Change and Terrestrial Ecosystems Southeast Asian Impacts Centre, Bogor, Indonesia
