A nationwide survey by ecologists has revealed that over 2 billion US tons of carbon is stored deep under the UK’s grasslands, helping to curb climate change.

Published in the leading journal Global Change Biology, the study shows that decades of intensive grassland farming across the UK, involving high rates of fertilizer use and livestock grazing, have caused valuable soil carbon stocks to decline.

The team found that the largest soil carbon stocks to depth were beneath grasslands that have been farmed at intermediate levels of intensivity, receiving less fertilizer and with fewer grazing animals.

The team of scientists from the Universities of Manchester, Lancaster, Reading and Newcastle, as well as Rothamsted Research, carried out the nationwide survey.

They found 60 per cent of the UK’s total soil carbon stored in grasslands - which cover around a third of UK land surface - is between 30cm and 1 metres deep, and also that this deep carbon is sensitive to the way land has been farmed.

Dr Sue Ward, the lead author of the paper from Lancaster Environment Centre, said “What most surprised us was the depth at which we were still able to detect a change in soil carbon due to historic land management.

“We have long known that carbon is stored in surface soils and is sensitive to the way land is managed. But now we know that this is too is true at considerable soil depths –under our grasslands.

“This is of high relevance given the extent of land cover and large stocks of carbon held in managed grasslands worldwide.”