Part of the Carbon in Global Boreal and Alpine Soils Under Climate Change-Driven Land Use fellowship sampling.

Leeds, England

Soils were collected from Spen Farm, a research farm of the University of Leeds primarily researching pigs. Samples were taken for Wheat, Pasture, Forest, and Agroforestry (abandoned), with the latter subsampled for different tree types (Ash, Cherry, Hazel, and Sycamore).

Spen Farm was mostly flat with slight gradations in terrain and no obvious water sources on the farm itself. In addition to pigs, the farm had some sheep and grew mostly wheat and canola/rapeseed with some maize on rotation, as well as agroforestry plots containing 39-year-old hazel, ash, cherry, and sycamore trees in four blocks across the farm, plus a single block of poplar. A small native forest with mature deciduous trees and open forest floor was present. A highway was adjacent to one edge of the farm, and hedgerows separated the different land-use types.

Pig activity was confined to areas not sampled; nonetheless, pig manure was applied to at least the wheat fields. Pasture was grazed by sheep. Substantial data should exist on eddy covariance and soil respiration in one of the wheat fields. Sampling was performed in one afternoon and soils were immediately processed.