Effect of Cropland Abandonment on Soil Carbon Stock in an Agroforestry System in Southwestern Spain
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The aim of this study was to determine if the abandonment of rural areas and the change in 11 land use has an impact on the soil organic carbon stock in agroforestry systems in southwestern 12 Spain.
The article is well written and clear in the exposition of the concepts. It is very well proportioned in all its parts, from the introduction to the materials and methods, to the results and discussions. The various sections are comprehensive and very well explained, especially the results which are very well described, and the discussions very well explained.
Indeed, I believe the significance of this study is very valuable, however it should be improved in small parts before it is published:
- please include more conceptual and bibliographic references on soil ecosystem services in the introduction;
- the conclusions summarize all the work and above all the results, leading to many repetitions of concepts already expressed elsewhere. Please, check and in this section try to bring your research back to a more general and global level;
- please, specify CS e AS in Figure 1.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Their comments and suggestions have been included in the manuscript.
- Conceptual and bibliographic references on soil ecosystem services in the introduction have been included.
- A sentence has been incorporated that summarizes the general conclusion of the manuscript.
- I consider that the description of CS and AS is already included in the figure caption.
All the best
Reviewer 2 Report
My concerns about this article are: a) the authors should have taken more than one sample in each sampling point or at least they should have taken composite samples; b) they do not mention the analytical replicates per sample in the manuscript ; c) the results the authors present are very scarce.
Line 19: becoming “a” carbon sink.
Line 55-57: I think the sentence “Several studies have shown the result of the transformation of forests to agricultural lands, a global amount lost around 16 Pg C year-1 in the form of CO2” is not well written.
Line 93: Perhaps it is better to write: “average annual rainfall of 517 mm” instead of “average rainfall of 517 mm year-1”.
Author Response
Dear reviewer
Their comments and suggestions have been included in the manuscript.
The sampling process has been rewritten. The current version details the procedure performed with greater precision. In previous version it was not included to simplify the writing, assuming that the analysis is always carried out on a mixture of soil samples collected at a sampling point, as this is the usual procedure. In this way we reduce the error derived from the heterogeneity of the soil and the limited number of sampling points. We consider that the results derive from the analyzes carried out and are sufficient to respond to the aims of the investigation.
All the best
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The article has been improved.
