Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) leached from the O horizon of forest soils is a major source of soil organic carbon in the mineral soil, where a major proportion of the organic carbon in forest ecosystems is located. The relative contribution of recent litter and humified organic matter to the leaching of DOC from the O horizon is still being debated. In the present work, I studied the sources of DOC leached from the O horizon by manipulating the amounts of litter and humus and measuring DOC concentrations and fluxes, isotopic composition (13C and 14C) and chemical characteristics (measured by NMR, UV absorbance and fractionation into hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds). A computer model (DyDOC) was used to simulate the DOC leaching processes. Furthermore, DOC was measured at different soil moisture conditions at three sites along a climate gradient in Sweden. In addition, 14C measurements of DOC were made at two of these sites to reveal the fate of the DOC leached from the O horizon. I concluded that about half or more of the DOC leached from recent litter is lost during passage through the O horizon. Despite this, both recent litter in the Oi horizon and more humified organic matter in the Oe and Oa horizons contribute significantly to the DOC leaving the O horizon, but with the major proportion coming from the Oe and Oa horizons. To successfully model DOC leaching, the DyDOC model had to be modified to allow DOC to also be leached from recent litter. Measurements along the climatic gradient showed that the concentration and fluxes were highest in the south and lowest in the north. I suggest that these differences can be related to differences in net primary production. Both differences in mean annual temperature and the gradient in nitrogen status from south to north contribute to this effect of net primary production. Soil moisture had no effect on DOC leaching out of the O horizon. The DOC concentration in the B horizon, which is a sink for DOC, is largely go

Variation of dissolved of organic carbon concentration in stream water is a consequence of process changes in the surrounding terrestrial environment. This study will focus on 1) Identify significant environmental factors controlling the spatial and temporal variation of DOC in terrestrial ecosystems of a watershed southeast of Boston, Massachusetts; 2) Model the DOC leaching from different land cover and examine the relationship between leaching flux and in-stream DOC. Our hypothesis is variations of in stream DOC is closely related to watershed properties and environmental factors at annual, seasonal, and daily scales, especially land cover type, watershed size and hydrology. To explore the relationship of hydrology and DOC variation at ungauged sub-basin, we examined the effectiveness of using simulated stream flow from Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to study terrestrial DOC dynamics. Our results demonstrated that streamflow, drainage area, and percent of wetland and forest were particularly strong predictors in watersheds with a large proportion of developed area. The resulting linear model is able to explain about 70.2% (R2=0.702) and 65.1% (R2=0.651) of the variance of in-stream DOC concentrations at seasonal and annual scales respectively. Results also suggest that more frequent DOC sampling is necessary to establish the quantitative relationship between simulated stream flows from the SWAT and in-stream DOC concentrations at daily scale. The physically based ecosystem model developed in this study shows that DOC leaching from various land cover are highly correlated (up to 80%) with in-stream DOC by using ecological process with incorporated different hydrological pathways. It shows that leaching of DOC from soil is a significant contributor to the in-stream DOC. The production of DOC is largely controlled by the vegetation type and soil texture. Considering the hydrologic control on DOC transport with different pathways of water at finer spatial and temporal scale highlights the need to identify the quantitative relationships between water and carbon flux.

This work provides detailed coverage of the applications of proven spectometric techniques in soil science. It presents analytical approaches important in the study of pool sizes and the dynamics of macro- and micronutrients, the structure and function of soil organic matter, and the co-evolution of soils, plant communities and climate. Interdisciplinary perspectives from soil science, ecology, geology, chemistry, biogeochemistry, agronomy and physics, are offered.

In the summer of 2003, a workshop was held in Portsmouth, NH, to discuss land measurement techniques for the North American Carbon Program. Over 40 sci- tists representing government agencies, academia and nonprofit research organi- tions located in Canada, the US and Mexico participated. During the course of the workshop a number of topics were discussed, with an emphasis on the following: • The need for an intermediate tier of carbon measurements. This level of study would be more extensive than state-level inventories of the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, but less detailed than intensive ecos- tem studies sites such as those in Long Term Ecological Research network. This tier would ideally provide a basis to link and scale remote sensing measurements and inventory data, and supply data required to parameterize existing models (see Wofsy and Harriss 2002, Denning et al. 2005). • The design criteria that such a network of sites should meet. The network and s- pling design should be standardized, but flexible enough to be applied across North America. The design also needs to be efficient enough to be implemented without the need for large field crews, yet robust enough to provide useful information. Finally, the spatial scale must permit easy linkage to remotely sensed data. • The key variables that should be measured at each site, and the frequency of measurement.