Fluctuating water level effects on soil greenhouse gas emissions of returning farmland to wetland

Prescribed fires or wildfires are common in natural ecosystems. Biochar input during fires can impact soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Meadows are functionally important ecosystems due to their large carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks and potential to mitigate GHG emissions. The effects of biochar on meadow GHG emissions may be sensitive to whether it is derived from more than one type of vegetation, especially with N addition and warming. To further our understanding of how input of fire-derived biochar affects meadow soil GHG emissions, especially under the context of N deposition and warming, we conducted this study to examine potential non-additive effects of these factors. We collected soils from meadows dominated by Miscanthus sinensis and Arundinella hirta at Wugong Mountain (Jiangxi, China). Biochar was produced by pyrolyzing the aboveground vegetation of each of the two species at 450 °C for 1 h. Mixed biochar was produced by 1:1 ratio. Soil GHG emissions and N transformations were measured by incubating soils with biochar (control, M. sinensis biochar, A. hirta biochar, mixed biochar) and N addition (control vs. 6 g m−2) treatments at different temperatures (10, 15, 20, or 25 °C). Biochar input consistently increased both CH4 and N2O flux, but only A. hirta and mixed biochar decreased CO2 emission rates. Mixed biochar imposed non-additive effects on cumulative CH4 and CO2 emissions. Biochar decreased soil nitrification rates and increased the temperature sensitivity of soil N2O emission rates. The results indicated that biochar input during fires in meadows impacts soil GHG emissions and N transformations. Input of biochar into meadow soil following fire impacted GHG emissions, and mixing biochar derived from different species imposed non-additive effects on CH4 and CO2 emissions. The variable and non-additive biochar effects on soil GHG emissions showed that fire-induced alterations in meadow soil GHG emissions will depend on the species composition of the local plant community. The effects of biochar on meadow soil GHG emissions after fires should be considered in future budgets of meadow soil GHG emissions and prediction of prescribed fire impacts on meadow ecosystems under the context of N deposition and warming.

Agricultural disturbance has significantly boosted soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions such as methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Biochar application is a potential option for regulating soil GHG emissions. However, the effects of biochar application on soil GHG emissions are variable among different environmental conditions. In this study, a dataset based on 129 published papers was used to quantify the effect sizes of biochar application on soil GHG emissions. Overall, biochar application significantly increased soil CH4 and CO2 emissions by an average of 15% and 16% but decreased soil N2O emissions by an average of 38%. The response ratio of biochar applications on soil GHG emissions was significantly different under various management strategies, biochar characteristics, and soil properties. The relative influence of biochar characteristics differed among soil GHG emissions, with the overall contribution of biochar characteristics to soil GHG emissions ranging from 29% (N2O) to 71% (CO2). Soil pH, the biochar C:N ratio, and the biochar application rate were the most influential variables on soil CH4, CO2, and N2O emissions, respectively. With biochar application, global warming potential (impact of the emission of different greenhouse gases on their radiative forcing by agricultural practices) and the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions (emission rate of a given pollutant relative to the intensity of a specific activity) significantly decreased, and crop yield greatly increased, with an average response ratio of 23%, 41%, and 21%, respectively. Our findings provide a scientific basis for reducing soil GHG emissions and increasing crop yield through biochar application.

Effects of aged biochar additions at different addition ratios on soil greenhouse gas emissions

Characteristics of greenhouse gas emissions from farmland soils based on a structural equation model: Regulation mechanism of biochar

Changes in land use management practices may have multiple effects on microclimate and soil properties that affect soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Soil surface GHG emissions need to be better quantified in order to assess the total environmental costs of current and possible alternative land uses in the Missouri River Floodplain (MRF). The objective of this study was to evaluate soil GHG emissions (CO2, CH4, N2O) in MRF soils under long-term agroforestry (AF), row-crop agriculture (AG) and riparian forest (FOR) systems in response to differences in soil water content, land use, and N fertilizer inputs. Intact soil cores were obtained from all three land use systems and incubated under constant temperature conditions for a period of 94 days using randomized complete block design with three replications. Cores were subjected to three different water regimes: flooded (FLD), optimal for CO2 efflux (OPT), and fluctuating. Additional N fertilizer treatments for the AG and AF land uses were included during the incubation and designated as AG-N and AF-N, respectively. Soil CO2 and N2O emissions were affected by the land use systems and soil moisture regimes. The AF land use resulted in significantly lower cumulative soil CO2 and N2O emissions than FOR soils under the OPT water regime. Nitrogen application to AG and AF did not increase cumulative soil CO2 emissions. FLD resulted in the highest soil N2O and CH4 emissions, but did not cause any increases in soil cumulative CO2 emissions compared to OPT water regime conditions. Cumulative soil CO2 and N2O emissions were positively correlated with soil pH. Soil cumulative soil CH4 emissions were only affected by water regimes and strongly correlated with soil redox potential.

Effect of microplastics on soil greenhouse gas emissions: A global meta-analysis study.

ABSTRACTInvestigating responses of soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to vegetation restoration is important for global warming mitigation. On the Loess Plateau, a wide range of vegetation restoration strategies have been implemented to control land degradation. However, the thorough quantification of soil GHG emissions triggered by different modes of vegetation restoration is insufficient. There is still a knowledge gap regarding the regulation of soil biochemical and microbial processing on soil GHG emissions. To do so, we compared responses of soil GHG emissions to various types of vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau, and investigated the changes in soil properties as well as microbial composition and activities. We found that artificial plantation of Caragana korshinskii had low soil carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, while natural grassland had high CO2 emission. The possible explanations could be related to higher moisture and microbial biomass carbon, and greater nitrogen limitation in natural grassland, which was controlled by actinomycetes and gram‐negative bacteria. Natural grassland had low soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emission and high methane (CH4) uptake, whereas Prunus mume had high N2O emission and Medicago sativa had low CH4 uptake, respectively. Soil N2O emission could be driven by fungi and gram‐positive bacteria which were affected by N availability and dissolved organic carbon. Soil CH4 consumption was associated with anaerobic bacteria and gram‐negative bacteria which were affected by N availability and moisture. These different emissions of CO2, N2O and CH4 generated the largest total GHG emissions for plantation of Prunus mume, but the smallest total GHG emissions for natural grassland and plantation of leguminous Caragana korshinskii. Overall, our findings suggested that the restoration of natural grassland and artificial N‐fixing shrubland like Caragana korshinskii should be encouraged to alleviate GHG emissions, with the practical implications for selecting suitable modes and species to improve ecological sustainability in degraded lands.

Earthworms increase soil greenhouse gas emissions reduction potential in a long-term no-till Mollisol

Influence of seasonal water-level fluctuations on depth-dependent microbial nitrogen transformation and greenhouse gas fluxes in the riparian zone

Common agronomic adaptation strategies to climate change may increase soil greenhouse gas emission in Northern Europe

In-field measurements of direct soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions provide critical data for quantifying the net energy efficiency and economic feasibility of crop residue-based bioenergy production systems. A major challenge to such assessments has been the paucity of field studies addressing the effects of crop residue removal and associated best practices for soil management (i.e., conservation tillage) on soil emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), and methane (CH4). This regional survey summarizes soil GHG emissions from nine maize production systems evaluating different levels of corn stover removal under conventional or conservation tillage management across the US Corn Belt. Cumulative growing season soil emissions of CO2, N2O, and/or CH4 were measured for 2–5 years (2008–2012) at these various sites using a standardized static vented chamber technique as part of the USDA-ARS’s Resilient Economic Agricultural Practices (REAP) regional partnership. Cumulative soil GHG emissions during the growing season varied widely across sites, by management, and by year. Overall, corn stover removal decreased soil total CO2 and N2O emissions by -4 and -7 %, respectively, relative to no removal. No management treatments affected soil CH4 fluxes. When aggregated to total GHG emissions (Mg CO2 eq ha−1) across all sites and years, corn stover removal decreased growing season soil emissions by −5 ± 1 % (mean ± se) and ranged from -36 % to 54 % (n = 50). Lower GHG emissions in stover removal treatments were attributed to decreased C and N inputs into soils, as well as possible microclimatic differences associated with changes in soil cover. High levels of spatial and temporal variabilities in direct GHG emissions highlighted the importance of site-specific management and environmental conditions on the dynamics of GHG emissions from agricultural soils.

Tropical wetlands are important climate regulators. However, their climate regulating function is at risk by land-use conversion for agricultural purposes. In sub-Saharan Africa, studies investigating the effect of land-use change in wetlands and associated soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions remain limited. Moreover, the influence of season in GHG emissions with land-use change has hardly been studied. Therefore, we investigated methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a Kenyan wetland and adjacent areas converted to farmland during the dry and rainy seasons. Moreover, we assessed which soil parameters drive the variations in GHG emissions. The GHG samples were collected by the static chamber method and analyzed by gas chromatography. For data analysis, we employed an explorative-statistical approach to explain the emission rates' variation and determine which parameters influence the GHG emissions, both as main and interaction effects. The results showed that regardless of the season, there were CH4 emissions (>0.50 mg m−2 h−1) from the wetland when soil organic carbon content was high and uptake (<0.001 mg m−2 h−1) when both soil organic carbon content and soil moisture were low. In the farmland, there was CH4 uptake when soil nitrate‑nitrogen content was high. CO2 emissions did not vary significantly between the land-use types. Instead, emission rates were primarily governed by season. The highest emissions (>175 mg m−2 h−1) during the dry season were attributed to high soil organic carbon content. During the rainy season, emissions hardly exceeded 175 mg m−2 h−1. Regarding N2O, we detected the highest emissions (>5 μg m−2 h−1) from the farmland during the dry season. Overall, this study shows that wetland conversion to farmland encourages CH4 uptake regardless of the season and increases N2O emissions during the dry season. Based on the respective GHG global warming potential, these patterns may pose an increased environmental threat.

Short-term effects of asymmetric day and night warming on soil N2O, CO2 and CH4 emissions: A field experiment with an invasive and native plant

Effects of different agricultural organic wastes on soil GHG emissions: During a 4-year field measurement in the North China Plain

Biochar addition (BA) has been considered a promising strategy for mitigating soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, it is essential to assess whether the benefits are retained under different water and fertilizer strategies (WFSs), particularly under the biogas slurry strategy (BSS), and the specific effects of different BA ratios on GHG emissions must also be assessed. This study examined the effects of two WFSs on soil GHGs emissions and bacterial sub-communities under different BA ratios and investigated their potential mechanisms using soil column experiments. Under the conventional chemical fertilizer strategy (CFS), BA reduced CO2 emissions by 29.19–36.51%, but simultaneously increased CH4 emissions by 21.62–135.08% and N2O emissions by 48.16–51.31%. Transitioning from CFS to BSS led to a 14.89% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 71.83% reduction in N2O emissions, whereas the CH4 emissions increased by 101.72%. Concurrently, BA concentrations of 4% and 6% intensified the modulatory effect of BSS on these GHGs, whereas a 2% BA concentration had an opposing regulatory effect. Both BSS and BA were also found to enhance the abundance of rare bacterial sub-communities within the soil. Furthermore, this study revealed that BSS reshaped the GHG emission pathway regulated by BA through bacterial sub-communities, emphasizing the ''priority effect'' of these communities in controlling GHG emissions. This study has also highlighted the integral role of carbon and nitrogen turnover processes within bacterial sub-communities for the regulation of GHGs emissions. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the effectiveness of BA in reducing soil GHGs emissions depends on the WFS. Graphical Abstract