O'Hagan, KatieMcNally, SamWells, NaomiOrwin, kateSmith, Carol2024-12-162024-12-022024-12-162024-12-022024-12-022024-12-02https://hdl.handle.net/10182/17931Increasing soil carbon (C) storage could be an effective climate mitigation strategy and agroforestry is suggested as a strategy to achieve this. For soils to act as an effective C sink, a focus should be put on processes that result in C becoming stabilised as mineral-associated C where it can persist in soils for centuries. Sorption of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) on soil mineral surfaces is one of the primary processes leading to C stabilisation within soils. However, the capacity for different soils to adsorb C substrates depends not only on soil mineral properties but also on substrate chemistry. Therefore, the quality of leaf litter of different agroforestry trees could impact the potential for increasing soil C storage at a given site. To test this, we extracted carbon from the leaves of different tree species to create species-specific DOC solutions. We then conducted a batch sorption experiment using the different DOC solutions to test the interaction of each solution with soils of contrasting mineral properties, and high and low C saturation deficits. This experiment was performed using a fully factorial design enabling all possible interactions to be tested. We found that highly weathered soils with higher iron and aluminium oxide contents adsorbed more C than poorly weathered soils. Differences were also observed in the adsorption potential of the species-specific DOC solutions. Preliminary findings suggest that even in weakly weathered soils, selecting trees for their litter quality has the potential to increase soil C sorption. Therefore, establishing appropriate tree species in agroforestry systems could result in increased stable SOC stocks, contributing to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.pp.102-102, 1 pages© NZSSS & SSAagroforestrycarboncarbon sequestrationsoil scienceConference Contribution - published