Soil Carbon Pools Associated with Rural Land Uses in Kentucky, USA.

Carbon sequestration has the potential to reduce the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere giving an important environmental benefit.  Rural areas in Kentucky provide excellent ecosystems for  C sequestration because they have diverse land uses with various vegetation cover and cultivation practices.  Understanding the association between land uses and the magnitude of C pools will help to quantify the contribution of Kentucky to sequester C in soils.  The objective of this research was to determine the impacts of various land uses from selected rural areas in KY on soil organic C (SOC), particulate organic matter C (POM C), and SOC associated with macro- and microaggregates.  Soil samples from A hor were collected from various existing land uses in Kentucky.  The findings of this study can be used to predict the contribution of Kentucky's land in reducing CO2 emission compared to other locations.