Brazil's Soil Carbon Stocks

Soil organic carbon (C) stocks to a depth of 30 cm were estimated for Brazil on the basis of a map of different soil‐vegetation associations (SVA) combined with results from a soil database. The SVA map was derived by intersection of soil and vegetation maps. The original soil and vegetation classification were simplified to six soil and 15 vegetation categories. The SVA map comprised 21 111 map units (MU) that were spread into 75 different SVA categories. Mean representative C stocks (RCS) of the SVA categories ranged from 1.51 to 41.78 kg C m −2 More than three fourth of all SVA areas had an associated RCS varying between 3 and 6 kg C m −2 Because these data represent sites with native vegetation in the absence of significant disturbances, they represent a valuable baseline for evaluating the effect of land‐use change on soil C stocks for Brazil. In total, about 36.4 ± 3.4 Pg C was stored in the 0‐ to 30‐cm soil layer.