Soil organic matter is responsive to short-term climate cycles

Strong evidence exists that management practices can increase soil organic matter (SOM); however, climate is also known to affect SOM content. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between precipitation and SOM. Precipitation and SOM data from southeastern Saskatchewan were highly correlated (r = 0.91, p < 0.01), with SOM contents declining during drier periods, indicating SOM is responsive to short-term climate cycles. Assessing soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes must account for climate variability to avoid ascribing either SOC losses due to lower precipitation or gains due to higher precipitation to management practices.