Modelling dynamics of

soil organic matter under

historical land-use
management in European
Russia

Maxim Bobrovsky, Alexander Komarov,

Tatyana Kubasova, Alex Mikhailov
Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems of
Soil Sciences of Russian Academy of Science
Pushchino (Russia)
 Historical land-use impacts

Felling Ploughing

Slash-and-burn Litter
harvesting

Fire
Grazing
 Historical land-use impacts
‰ Stock-breeding
Forest grazing prevailed
Licevoj svod, XVI c. Moscow
The Gospel, XI c. Paris
Miniature, XVIII c.
Moscow
Historical land-use impacts
‰ Felling, brushwood harvesting
Carpet, XI c.

Engraving by
Kallo, 1620. France
Historical land-use impacts
‰ Branches, litter harvesting “Lekarstvo
duschevnoe”, XVII c.
‰ Mowing … etc. Moscow

“Derevenskoe
zerkalo”,
1798, Tula

The important part of impacts was connected

with historical agriculture systems
 Pic. by Lindholm, XVIII c.
Traditional Finland

agriculture systems
‰ Slash-and-burn
system

‰ Shifting agriculture
Licevoj svod, XVI c. Moscow
(forest-shifting
system)

‰ Three-field system
(type of fallow
system)
 Chronology of traditional
agriculture systems for Central Russia

Slash-and-burn system Fallow system

(incl. three-field system)
Field-forest shifting system
?
?

?
?

6 000 4 000 2 000 1500 1000 500 150 50

All territory of Central European Russia was
impacted by historical agriculture systems

Typical landscapes of Central Eu.Russia

Miniatures from “Meyerberg Album”, 1661
It is possible to estimate directly
‰ the short-term influence of different
human impacts on natural
ecosystems
‰ the total influence of detached
human impacts in the past (burning,
tillage, pasture, etc.) on present-day
ecosystems

It is impossible to estimate directly

the long-term influence of human
impacts on ecosystems
Objective
¾ To apply a computer model to
estimate the long-term dynamics
of soil organic matter (SOM) under
the historical agriculture

A. Verhoyatsky icon,
detail. XVII c.
EFIMOD model of forest-soil dynamics
PAR

Climate Initialisation

Available PAR for trees, ground

vegetation and natural regeneration

T R E E S

1 2 3 . n Ground Natural
vegetation regeneration

Redistribution of soil available nitrogen

Model of soil organic matter ROMUL

Forest manager
3D visualisation
Data viewer Graph interface

Komarov et al., 2003, Ecol.Mod.

Land-use management scenarios for
three agricultural systems
1. Slash-and-burn system
2. Shifting agriculture
3. Three-field system

Miniature from
“Sergy Radonezsky life”,
XVII c. Moscow
Slash-and-burn system

slash Î burning Î ‘clearing’ Î forest

grain-crops 25 years
3 years 60 years

Shifting agriculture

slash Î tillage Î forest

grain-crops 25 years
10 years

Three-field system
slash Î burning Î tillage
rye/spring wheat/fallow
fertilization (dunging 8t/ha*9yrs)
no fertilization
The main parameters of land-use
management scenarios

‰ Burning / without burning

‰ Percentage of burning wood
‰ Tillage duration
‰ Duration of ‘soil relaxation’ (free
forest development)
‰ Fertilization (composition, mass,
frequency) / without fertilization
For each land-use
management scenario

‰ 200-year ecosystem development

was simulated with annual steps

‰ The impacts were simulated after 60

years of free forest development

‰ Trees were ‘planted’ after impacts

(beside the three-field system)
Case study

‰ “B2” forest site class - sandy soddy-

podzolic soil, pine stands

‰ “C3” forest site class - loamy soddy-

podzolic soil, birch stands

Forest Inventory Data for

experimental forestry “Russkii Les”,
Moscow region, Russia
 Dynamics of carbon in soil
B2 forest site class
12
Slash&Burn 60
Slash&Burn 25
10
Field-Forest Shifting 25
Three-Field
8 Three-Field +Fertilizations

C3 forest site class

kgC/m2

6 12
Slash&Burn 60
Slash&Burn 25
10
Field-Forest Shifting 25
4 Three-Field
8 Three-Field +Fertilizations

kgC/m2
6

2
4

2
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time (Years) Time (Years)
Results
‰ For the slash-and-burn and for the
shifting agriculture, the frequency of
impacts is crucial in Soil Organic
Matter (SOM) dynamics

‰ The SOM stocks decrease more fast

in the habitats of initial more rich soil
Critical reduction of SOM
‰ Slash-and-burn (25 years for
relaxation), shifting agriculture,
three-field without fertilization
– in 30-50 years of impacts
‰ Slash-and-burn (60 years for
relaxation)
– in more than 120 years of impacts
‰ Three-field system with fertilization
– no critical reduction of SOM
Extremal reduction of SOM
‰ Slash-and-burn (25 years for
relaxation), shifting agriculture,
three-field without fertilization
– in 80-100 years of impacts
‰ Slash-and-burn (60 years for
relaxation)
– in more than 180 years of impacts
‰ Three-field system with fertilization
– no extremal reduction of SOM
Some ‘modelling’ questions
‰ too much reduction of SOM
‰ small difference between a final
reduction of SOM in poor and in rich
soil
Why?
Decomposition speed is high too much
9 Decomposition coefficients for arable
layer apply to all soil depth
9 No compartment of strongly stable SOM
Î To differ SOM compartments
in mineral soil
Soil profiles of different history

without agricultural use after agricultural use,

mainly slash-and-burn

Komi republic, European Russia

Soil profiles of different history

after long-term
without agricultural use agricultural use, mainly
shifting agriculture

Vologda region, European Russia

Soil profiles of different history

after long-term
without agricultural use
agricultural use, mainly
three-field system
without fertilization
Kaluga region, European Russia
Modelling of historical land-use
management allows for
i. assessing critical loads of historical
land-use systems for dynamics of
soil organic matter
ii. assessing critical ‘lifetime’ of
different agricultural systems in
different environmental conditions
iii. getting new data for understanding
ecosystem history and for testing
historical reconstruction concepts
Thank You
for Your Attention!

Licevoj svod, XVI c. Moscow