Emission of nitrous oxide from temperate forest soils into the atmosphere

Abstract

N20 emission rates were measured during a 13-month period from July 1981 till August 1982 with a frequency of once every two weeks at six different forest sites in the vicinity of Mainz, Germany. The sites were selected on the basis of soil types typical for many of the Central European forest ecosystems. The individual N20 emission rates showed a high degree of temporal and spatial variabilities which, however, were not significantly correlated to variabilities in soil moisture content or soil temperatures. However, the N20 emission rates followed a general seasonal trend with relatively high values during spring and fall. These maxima coincided with relatively high soil moisture contents, but may also have been influenced by the leaf fall in autumn. In addition, there was a brief episode of relatively high NxO emission rates immediately after thawing of the winter snow. The individual N20 emission rates measured during the whole season ranged between 1 and 92 ~tg N20-N m -2 h -I . The average values were in the range of 3-11 jag N20-N m -2 h -1 and those with a 50% probability were in the range of 2-8 Izg N20-N m -2 h -l . The total source strength of temperate forest soils for atmospheric NxO may be in the range of 0.7-1.5 Tg N yr -1 .

Nitrous oxide emissions from a beech forest floor measured by eddy covariance and soil enclosure techniques

“…Our spring time measurements of 6 to 16 µg N m −2 h −1 with the EC and chambers, respectively, are in line with this, and also with other emission measurements from temperate forest soils (Schmidt et al, 1988;Ambus and Christensen, 1995;Bowden et al, 2000). In more detail, Beier et al (2001) studied the total nitrogen cycling in this beech forest site.…”

“…Annual emissions range from near 0 to 20 kg of N 2 O-N per hectare, depending on atmospheric N deposition, forest type and management practices (Schmidt et al, 1988;Tietema et al, 1991;Papen and Butterbach-Bahl, 1999;Bowden et al, 2000;Beier et al, 2001). Several soil physical, chemical and biological factors and their interactions control microbial N 2 O production in the soil.…”

Nitrous oxide fluxes from three forest types of the tropical mountain rainforests on Hainan Island, China

“…We found no significant relationship between N 2 O fluxes and several soil properties (pH values, NO À 3 -N, NH þ 4 -N, available P, DOC). (Garcia-Montiel et al, 2003;Keller and Reiners, 1994;Neto et al, 2011;Sousa Neto et al, 2010), which was also comparable with other forest types summarized in Table 2 ( Corre et al, 1999;Christiansen et al, 2011;Dong et al, 1998;Dörsch et al, 2012;Eickenscheidt et al, 2011;Liu et al, 2011;Maljanen et al, 2006;Pihlatie et al, 2007;Schmidt et al, 1988;Tang et al, 2006). In tropical regions of China, our N 2 O emission rate was relatively lower than that from rainforests in Xishuangbanna (2.7 kg Ne N 2 O ha À1 yr À1 ), which was also lower than that from evergreen broadleaf forests in Dinghushan (3.2 kg NeN 2 O ha À1 yr À1 ), Southern Subtropical China.…”

“…The soil under natural vegetation emitting 6.6 Tg NeN 2 O per year, accounting for 60% of the total N 2 O natural sources (IPCC, 2013), and the production of N 2 O is mainly from microbial nitrification and denitrification (Davidson et al, 2000;Stevens et al, 1997). Forest soils (w30% of global land cover) have been identified as a significant source of N 2 O (Castaldi et al, 2013;Kester et al, 1997;Schmidt et al, 1988;Werner et al, 2007;Yu et al, 2008), but N 2 O emissions and processes vary widely among different forest types (Sousa Neto et al, 2010). Among forest types, the tropical forest soils were one of the important N 2 O sources, emitting 3.0 Tg NeN 2 O per year, accounting for w18% of the total N 2 O sources (Ehhalt et al, 2001).…”

Partitioning of atmospheric nitrogen under long-term reduced atmospheric deposition conditions in a Norway spruce forest ecosystem

“…Base cation in soil solution can become depleted with elevated N input (Federer et al 1989, Lawrence et al 1995, which is attributed to increased leaching of base cation as counterbalance ion for leached NO3 -and reduced cation exchange site resulting from higher Al 3+ availability and lower pH Introduction Murach 1995, Likens et al 1996). N gas losses can also increase as a result of the elevated N input (Schmidt et al 1988, Butterbach-Bahl et al 1998. …”