Fluxes of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide during freezing–thawing cycles in an Inner Mongolian steppe

新疆天山高寒草原不同放牧管理下的CO₂,CH₄和N₂O通量特征

Summertime N2O, CH4 and CO2 exchanges from a tundra marsh and an upland tundra in maritime Antarctica

In this study, tundra N2O and CH4fluxes were measured from one seabird sanctuary (SBT) and two non‐seabird colonies (NST‐I and NST‐II) in Ny‐Ålesund (79°55′N, 11°56′E), Svalbard during the summers of 2008 and 2009. N2O and CH4fluxes from SBT showed large temporal and spatial variations depending on the intensity of seabird activity. High seabird activity sites showed large N2O and CH4emissions while low N2O and CH4emissions, even CH4uptake occurred at medium and low seabird activity sites. Overall the mean fluxes were 18.3 ± 3.6μg N2O m−2h−1and 53.5 ± 20.3μg CH4m−2h−1from tundra SBT whereas tundra NST‐I and NST‐II represented a relatively weak N2O source (8.3 ± 13.2μg N2O m−2h−1) and strong CH4sink (−82.8 ± 22.3μg CH4m−2h−1). Seabird activity was the strongest control of N2O and CH4fluxes compared with soil temperature and moisture, and high N2O and CH4emissions were created by soil physical and chemical processes (the sufficient supply of nutrients NH4+–N, NO3−–N, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total carbon from seabird guano, seabird tramp and appropriate water content) related to the seabird activity. Our work suggests that tundra ecosystems impacted by seabird activity are the potential “hotspots” for N2O and CH4emissions although these sources have been largely neglected at present. Furthermore the combination of seabird activity and warming climate will likely further enhance N2O and CH4emissions from the High Arctic tundra.

The invasions of the alien species such as Spartina alterniflora along the northern Jiangsu coastlines have posed a threat to biodiversity and the ecosystem function. Yet, limited attention has been given to their potential influence on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including the diurnal variations of GHG fluxes that are fundamental in estimating the carbon and nitrogen budget. In this study, we examined the diurnal variation in fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) from a S. alterniflora intertidal flat in June, October, and December of 2013 and April of 2014 representing the summer, autumn, winter, and spring seasons, respectively. We found that the average CH4 fluxes on the diurnal scale were positive during the growing season while negative otherwise. The tidal flat of S. alterniflora acted as a source of CH4 in summer (June) and a combination of source and sink in other seasons. We observed higher diurnal variations in the CO2 and N2O fluxes during the growing season (1 536.5 mg CO2 m–2 h–1 and 25.6 μg N2O m–2 h–1) compared with those measured in the non-growing season (379.1 mg CO2 m–2 h–1 and 16.5 μg N2O m–2 h–1). The mean fluxes of CH4 were higher at night than that in the daytime during all the seasons but October. The diurnal variation in the fluxes of CO2 in June and N2O in December fluctuated more than that in October and April. However, two peak curves in October and April were observed for the diurnal changes in CO2 and N2O fluxes (prominent peaks were found in the morning of October and in the afternoon of April, respectively). The highest diurnal variation in the N2O fluxes took place at 15:00 (86.4 μg N2O m–2 h–1) in June with an unimodal distribution. Water logging in October increased the emission of CO2 (especially at nighttime), yet decreased N2O and CH4 emissions to a different degree on the daily scale because of the restrained diffusion rates of the gases. The seasonal and diurnal variations of CH4 and CO2 fluxes did not correlate to the air and soil temperatures, whereas the seasonal and diurnal variation of the fluxes of N2O in June exhibited a significant correlation with air temperature. When N2O and CH4 fluxes were converted to CO2-e equivalents, the emissions of N2O had a remarkable potential to impact the global warming. The mean daily flux (MF) and total daily flux (TDF) were higher in the growing season, nevertheless, the MF and TDF of CO2 were higher in October and those of CH4 and N2O were higher in June. In spite of the difference in the optimal sampling times throughout the observation period, our results obtained have implications for sampling and scaling strategies in estimating the GHG fluxes in coastal saline wetlands.

Selective logging is an extensive land use in the Brazilian Amazon region. The soil–atmosphere fluxes of nitrous oxide (N2O), nitric oxide (NO), methane (CH4), and carbon dioxide (CO2) are studied on two soil types (clay Oxisol and sandy loam Ultisol) over two years (2000–01) in both undisturbed forest and forest recently logged using reduced impact forest management in the Tapajos National Forest, near Santarem, Para, Brazil. In undisturbed forest, annual soil–atmosphere fluxes of N2O (mean ± standard error) were 7.9 ± 0.7 and 7.0 ± 0.6 ng N cm−2 h−1 for the Oxisol and 1.7 ± 0.1 and 1.6 ± 0.3 ng N cm−2 h−1 for the Ultisol for 2000 and 2001, respectively. The annual fluxes of NO from undisturbed forest soil in 2001 were 9.0 ± 2.8 ng N cm−2 h−1 for the Oxisol and 8.8 ± 5.0 ng N cm−2 h−1 for the Ultisol. Consumption of CH4 from the atmosphere dominated over production on undisturbed forest soils. Fluxes averaged −0.3 ± 0.2 and −0.1 ± 0.9 mg CH4 m−2 day−1 on the Oxisol and −1.0 ± 0.2 and −0.9 ± 0.3 mg CH4 m−2 day−1 on the Ultisol for years 2000 and 2001. For CO2 in 2001, the annual fluxes averaged 3.6 ± 0.4 μmol m−2 s−1 on the Oxisol and 4.9 ± 1.1 μmol m−2 s−1 on the Ultisol. We measured fluxes over one year each from two recently logged forests on the Oxisol in 2000 and on the Ultisol in 2001. Sampling in logged areas was stratified from greatest to least ground disturbance covering log decks, skid trails, tree-fall gaps, and forest matrix. Areas of strong soil compaction, especially the skid trails and logging decks, were prone to significantly greater emissions of N2O, NO, and especially CH4. In the case of CH4, estimated annual emissions from decks reached extremely high rates of 531 ± 419 and 98 ± 41 mg CH4 m−2 day−1, for Oxisol and Ultisol sites, respectively, comparable to wetland emissions in the region. We calculated excess fluxes from logged areas by subtraction of a background forest matrix or undisturbed forest flux and adjusted these fluxes for the proportional area of ground disturbance. Our calculations suggest that selective logging increases emissions of N2O and NO from 30% to 350% depending upon conditions. While undisturbed forest was a CH4 sink, logged forest tended to emit methane at moderate rates. Soil–atmosphere CO2 fluxes were only slightly affected by logging. The regional effects of logging cannot be simply extrapolated based upon one site. We studied sites where reduced impact harvest management was used while in typical conventional logging ground damage is twice as great. Even so, our results indicate that for N2O, NO, and CH4, logging disturbance may be as important for regional budgets of these gases as other extensive land-use changes in the Amazon such as the conversion of forest to cattle pasture.

Increased precipitation during the vegetation periods was observed in and further predicted for Inner Mongolia. The changes in the associated soil moisture may affect the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases. Therefore, we set up an irrigation experiment with one watered (W) and one unwatered plot (UW) at a winter-grazed Leymus chinensis-steppe site in the Xilin River catchment, Inner Mongolia. UW only received the natural precipitation of 2005 (129 mm), whereas W was additionally watered after the precipitation data of 1998 (in total 427 mm). In the 3-hour resolution, we determined nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes at both plots between May and September 2005, using a fully automated, chamber-based measuring system. N2O fluxes in the steppe were very low, with mean emissions (±s.e.) of 0.9±0.5 and 0.7±0.5 µg N m−2 h−1 at W and UW, respectively. The steppe soil always served as a CH4 sink, with mean fluxes of −24.1±3.9 and −31.1±5.3 µg C m−2 h−1 at W and UW. Nighttime mean CO2 emissions were 82.6±8.7 and 26.3±1.7 mg C m−2 h−1 at W and UW, respectively, coinciding with an almost doubled aboveground plant biomass at W. Our results indicate that the ecosystem CO2 respiration responded sensitively to increased water input during the vegetation period, whereas the effects on CH4 and N2O fluxes were weak, most likely due to the high evapotranspiration and the lack of substrate for N2O producing processes. Based on our results, we hypothesize that with the gradual increase of summertime precipitation in Inner Mongolia, ecosystem CO2 respiration will be enhanced and CH4 uptake by the steppe soils will be lightly inhibited.

Enhanced-efficiency N fertilizers (EENFs) have the potential to increase crop yield while decreasing soil N loss. However, the effect of EENFs on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different agricultural systems is not well understood. Thus, studies from a variety of locations and cropping systems are needed to evaluate their impact. An experiment was initiated on a Coastal Plain soil under cotton ( L.) production for comparing EENFs to traditional sources. Nitrogen sources included urea, ammonia sulfate (AS), urea-ammonia sulfate (UAS), controlled-release, polymer-coated urea (Environmental Smart Nitrogen [ESN]), stabilized granular urea (SuperU), poultry litter (PL), poultry litter plus AgrotainPlus (PLA), and an unfertilized control. Carbon dioxide (CO), nitrous oxide (NO), and methane (CH) fluxes were monitored regularly after fertilization through harvest from 2009 to 2011 using a closed-chamber method. Poultry litter and PLA had higher CO flux than other N treatments, while ESN and SU were generally lowest following fertilization. Nitrous oxide fluxes were highly variable and rarely affected by N treatments; PL and PLA were higher but only during the few samplings in 2010 and 2011. Methane fluxes were higher in 2009 (wet year) than 2010 or 2011, and N treatments had minimal impact. Global warming potential (GWP), calculated from cumulative GHG fluxes, was highest with PL and PLA and lowest for control, UAS, ESN, and SU. Results suggest that PL application to cotton increases GHG flux, but GHG flux reductions from EENFs were infrequently different from standard inorganic fertilizers, suggesting their higher cost may render them presently impractical.

This study aimed to quantify the nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes at sites with different vegetation covers and where bird activity was present or absent using the static chamber method, on Rip Point, Nelson Island, maritime Antarctic. The sites were soils covered by Sanionia uncinata, lichens, Prasiola crispa, Deschampsia antarctica and bare soil. Seabirds used the P. crispa and D. antarctica sites as nesting areas. Soil mineral N contents, air and soil temperature and water-filled pore space were measured, and the content of total organic C and particulate organic C, total N, bulk density and texture were determined to identify controlling variables of the gas emissions. The N2O and CH4 flux rates were low for all sampling events. Mean N2O flux rates ranged from 0.11±1.93 up to 21.25±22.14 µg N2O m−2 h−1 for the soils under lichen and P. crispa cover, respectively. For the CH4 fluxes, only the P. crispa site showed a low positive mean (0.47±3.61 µg CH4 m−2 h−1). The bare soil showed the greatest absorption of CH4 (−11.92±5.7 µg CH4 m−2 h−1), probably favoured by the coarse soil texture. Bare soil and S. uncinata sites had N2O accumulated emissions close to zero. Net CH4 accumulated emission was observed only at the P. crispa site, which was correlated with NH4+ (p<0.001). These results indicate that seabird activity influences N2O and CH4 soil fluxes, while vegetation has little influence, and bare soil areas in maritime Antarctica could be greenhouse gas sinks.

Plants have been suggested to have significant effects on methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes from littoral wetlands, but it remains unclear in subtropical lakes. We conducted in situ measurement of CH4 and N2O fluxes for two years. To distinguish between the effects of shoots and roots, three treatments (i.e., intact plants as control, shoot clipping, and root exclusion) were used. Effects of plant biomass, temperature, and soil moisture on CH4 and N2O fluxes were analyzed. The mean ecosystem CH4 emission rate was 36 μg CH4 m−2 h−1 for drying periods, but 8219 μg CH4 m−2 h−1 for drying-wetting transition periods. CH4 fluxes were positively correlated with below-ground and total biomass, but not with above-ground biomass. Clipping did not significantly alter CH4 flux rate, but root exclusion decreased the CH4 flux by 116 % as compared to the control. N2O emissions were similar for both the drying and drying-wetting transition periods, with a mean rate of 20 μg N2O m−2 h−1. Both clipping and root exclusion significantly increased N2O fluxes as compared to the control. There was no significant correlation between CH4 and N2O fluxes. Roots dominated plant-mediated enhancement in CH4 fluxes, but played almost an equal role as shoots in plant-regulated suppression on N2O fluxes in this Carex meadow during drawdown periods.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes from an apple orchard soil in the semiarid Loess Plateau of China were measured using static chambers from September 2007 to September 2008. In this study, three sites were selected at distance of 2.5 m (D 2.5), 1.5 m (D 1.5), and 0.5 m (D 0.5) from the apple tree row. Nitrous oxide fluxes followed seasonal pattern, with high N2O emission rates occurring in the hot-humid summer and low rates in the cold-dry winter. Pulses of N2O emissions occurred after nitrogen fertilizer application, summer rainfall events, and during freeze-thaw cycles. Annual average N2O emission rates were the highest at D 0.5 site (48.2 ± 39.9 µg N2O m−2 h−1), the lowest at D 2.5 site (31.9 ± 18.2 µg N2O m−2 h−1), and intermediate at D1.5 site (36.8 ± 32.2 µg N2O m−2 h−1), suggesting that N2O emissions from the apple orchard soil increased when the chamber location was closer to the apple tree row. This may be due to the fertilization close to roots in hot and humid season. Over one third (37.1%) of the annual N2O emission occurred in the summer. Annual N2O emissions from the apple orchard soil averaged to 3.22 kg N2O ha−1 year−1. Annual emission factor of the apple orchard from the applied fertilizer (uncorrected for background emission) was 0.658%. This value was nearly a half (53%) of the default value provided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the application of synthetic fertilizers to cropland (1.25%). Therefore, the amount of N2O emissions from the semiarid apple orchard soil could be largely overestimated if no regional-specific factor is used.

Effects of increasing precipitation and nitrogen deposition on CH4 and N2O fluxes and ecosystem respiration in a degraded steppe in Inner Mongolia, China

Fluxes of methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide in boreal lakes and potential anthropogenic effects on the aquatic greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract. Tropical peatlands are one of the most important terrestrial ecosystems in terms of impact on the atmospheric greenhouse gas composition. Currently, greenhouse gas emissions from tropical peatlands following disturbances due to deforestation, drainage or wildfire are substantial. We quantified in situ nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes during both dry and wet seasons using a closed chamber method at sites that represented differing land uses and land use change intensities in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Cumulative N2O fluxes were compared with carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes. The mean N2O flux rates (N2O-N &amp;amp;plusmn: SD, mg m−2 h−1) varied as follows: drained forest (0.112 ± 0.293) &gt; agricultural peat at the Kalampangan site (0.012 ± 0.026) &gt; drained burned peat (0.011 ± 0.018) &gt; agricultural peat at the Marang site (0.0072 ± 0.028) &gt; undrained forest (0.0025 ± 0.053) &gt; clear-felled, drained, recovering forest (0.0022 ± 0.021). The widest N2O flux range was detected in the drained forest (max. 2.312 and min. −0.043 mg N2O-N m−2 h−1). At the other flux monitoring sites the flux ranges remained at about one tenth that of the drained forest site. The highest N2O emission rates were observed at water tables close to the peat surface where also the flux range was widest. Annual cumulative peat surface N2O emissions (expressed in CO2 equivalents as a percentage of the total greenhouse gas (N2O, CO2 and CH4) emissions) were 9.2 % at highest, but typically ~1 %. Average N2O fluxes and also the total of monitored GHG emissions were highest in drainage-affected forest which is characterized by continuous labile nitrogen availability from vegetation, and water tables typically below the surface.

Reduced tillage (RT) is a common conservation agriculture practice, generally regarded to be a valuable greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation approach through increasing soil carbon (C) stocks. However, direct GHG measurements from RT compared to conventional tillage (CT) treatments can vary greatly depending on site‐specific soil properties and management practices. The objective of this study was to evaluate the short‐term effects of RT on soil‐to‐atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), methane (CH 4 ), and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) fluxes and emissions, global warming potential (GWP), yield, and emissions intensity (EI) throughout the 2024 soybean ( Glycine max ) growing season in a southeast Arkansas production field. Bulk density was lower ( p &lt; 0.05) in the CT (1.29 g cm −3 ) than in the RT (1.44 g cm −3 ) treatment at the beginning of the growing season, but the greater bulk density in the RT treatment did not result in a change in yield compared to CT. There was no difference in CO 2 fluxes between tillage treatments on any measurement date. Methane fluxes from CT were greater ( p &lt; 0.05) than from RT on four out of seven measurement dates. Nitrous oxide fluxes were greater ( p &lt; 0.05) from CT than RT and greater from RT than CT on four out of eight measurement dates each. Season‐long CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O emissions and EI, as well as GWP, did not differ ( p &gt; 0.05) between RT and CT. Results showed that more continuous RT practices are needed to develop a residue layer capable of affecting GHG emissions.

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is anticipated to increase over the next decades with possible implications for future forest-atmosphere interactions. Increased soil N2O emissions, depressed CH4 uptake and depressed soil respiration CO2 loss is considered a likely response to increased N deposition. This study examined fluxes of N2O, CH4 and CO2 over two growing seasons from soils in unmanaged forest and grassland communities on abandoned agricultural areas in Michigan. All sites were subject to simulated increased N-deposition in the range of 1–3 g N m−2 annually. Nitrous oxide fluxes and soil N concentrations in coniferous and grassland sites were on the whole unaffected by the increased N-inputs. It is noteworthy though that N2O emissions increased three-fold in the coniferous sites in the first growing season in response to the low N treatment, although the response was barely significant (p<0.06). In deciduous forests, we observed increased levels of soil mineral N during the second year of N fertilization, however N2O fluxes did not increase. Rates of methane oxidation were similar in all sites with no affect of field N application. Likewise, we did not observe any changes in soil CO2 efflux in response to N additions. The combination of tillage history and vegetation type was important for the trace gas fluxes, i.e. soil CO2 efflux was greater in successional grassland sites compared with the forested sites and CH4 uptake was reduced in post-tillage coniferous- and successional sites compared with the old-growth deciduous site. Our results indicate that short-term increased N availability influenced individual processes linked to trace gas turnover in the soil independently from the ecosystem N status. However, changes in whole system fluxes were not evident and were very likely mediated by competitive N uptake processes.