Abstract

The title of the thesis is "Impact of the cropping systems and climate change on the soil carbon sink in a Mediterranean area". The research was carried out in a North East of Sardinia area, near the Berchidda and Monti towns. This area is characterized by several cropping system such pasture, short term forage crops and vineyard. The aim of the research was to evaluate the influence of different cropping system on the dynamic of soil organic matter and how the climatic change could modify the crop production and the soil carbon sink. This study was carried out using the EPIC simulation model. A pedologic, vegetational and climatic characterization of the studied area were carried out. Through this characterization we obtained information useful to describe the site and the cropping systems. Moreover several data, obtained by this characterization, were used as input data for the EPIC simulation model. After the calibration the EPIC model was used to carried out several simulations to evaluate the soil organic carbon dynamic of the pasture and short term forage crops cropping systems. In order to evaluate the effects of the climate change on the crop production and soil carbon sink, we have used 2 different climatic scenarios (based on the A2 and B2 green house gas emission scenarios proposed by the IPCC) generated by 2 general circulation model (HadCM3 and GISS) to create a "future weather" input file for the EPIC model.

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