Please cite this article in press as: Kutsch, W.L., et al., The net biome production of full crop rotations in Europe. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.07.016 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model AGEE-3684; No. of Pages 10 Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment xxx (2010) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agee The net biome production of full crop rotations in Europe W.L. Kutsch a,∗ , M. Aubinet b , N. Buchmann c , P. Smith d , B. Osborne e , W. Eugster c , M. Wattenbach d , M. Schrumpf f , E.D. Schulze f , E. Tomelleri f , E. Ceschia g , C. Bernhofer h , P. Béziat g , A. Carrara i , P. Di Tommasi j , T. Grünwald h , M. Jones k , V. Magliulo j , O. Marloie l , C. Moureaux b , A. Olioso l , M.J. Sanz i , M. Saunders e , H. Søgaard m , W. Ziegler f a Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institut, Institute for Agricultural Climate Research, Braunschweig, Germany b Unit of Biosystem Physics, Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques, Gembloux, Belgium c ETH Zurich, Institute of Plant, Animal and Agroecosystem Sciences, Dept. of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Zurich, Switzerland d Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Building, St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU Scotland, UK e School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland f Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany g CESBIO, UMR 5126 – CNES-CNRS-UPS-IRD, 18 Avenue Edouard Belin, 31401 Toulouse cedex 9, France h Technische Universität Dresden, Department of Meteorology, Tharandt, Germany i Fundación CEAM, c/Charles Darwin 14, Parque Tecnológico, 46980 Paterna, Spain j CNR Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems, Via Patacca 85, 80056 Ercolano, Napoli, Italy k School of Natural Sciences, Department of Botany, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland l INRA, UMR 1114 INRA-UAPV, Domaine Saint Paul, Site Agroparc, F-84914 Avignon, France m Department of Geography and Geology, University of Kopenhagen, Oster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen, Denmark article info Article history: Received 20 July 2009 Received in revised form 22 July 2010 Accepted 27 July 2010 Available online xxx Keywords: Carbon budget Eddy covariance Harvest Organic fertilizer Good practice guidelines Agriculture abstract Data sets of biometeorological measurements of ecosystem CO 2 flux, combined with harvest and manure data from several European cropland were integrated to provide an assessment of the carbon budget. Sites encompassed different climatic regions and contrasting crop rotations. The influence of different crops and management practices was also assessed to identify some of the major factors contributing to the cropland carbon balance. Since crops are rotated and cropping periods do not always follow the calendar year, net ecosystem production (NEP) as well as net biome production (NBP) sums of full crop rotations or of at least 4 years of longer-term crop rotations and of monocultures were used. In a second analysis NBP sums were correlated to soil properties. Finally, the data were combined with additional data to derive a mean annual GHG balance for the European cropland sites under consideration. Five crop rotations and two monocultures were integrated over 4 years. During 4 years the average annual NEP was -240 ± 113 g C m -2 y -1 . On average, 382 ± 117 g C m -2 y -1 were harvested, where as average carbon inputs by manure and seeding was 47 ± 51gCm -2 y -1 . The average NBP of the seven sites under consideration was estimated to be a carbon loss of 95 ± 87gCm -2 y -1 . The full GHG balance of the considered sites was estimated to be 160 g C m -2 y -1 in CO 2 -equivalents. These results challenge current good practice guidelines that predict neutral carbon budgets for systems where the inputs of manure and crop residues are of comparable magnitude to those associated with the sites examined in this study. Ongoing humus loss in spite of good practice is mainly related to soils with high carbon concentrations which are not in equilibrium but may also be a result of already ongoing climate change. A modification in the good practice guidelines to increase carbon inputs may be required. Results from a representativeness analysis suggest that more than 50 sites are necessary for a European cropland flux network to adequately represent the variability of climate, soil and management within the European continent. Thus, the uncertainties due to the network design are currently bigger than the uncertainty intrinsic in the measurement method. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ∗ Corresponding author at: Max-Planck-Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans- Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany. E-mail address: wkutsch@bgc-jena.mpg.de (W.L. Kutsch). 1. Introduction The specific properties of agricultural practice require an adopted scientific approach for the estimation of carbon or full greenhouse gas balances of individual cropland ecosystems as well 0167-8809/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2010.07.016