The effect of nitrogen fertilization on the COS and CS2 emissions from temperature forest soils

Abstract

The net fluxes of carbonyl sulfide (COS) and carbon disulfide (CS2) to the atmosphere from nitrogen amended and unamended deciduous and coniferous forest soils were measured during the spring of 1986. We found that emissions of these gases from acidic forest soils were substantially increased after nitrogen fertilization. The total (COS+CS2) emissions were increased by nearly a factor of three in the hardwood stand and were more than doubled in the pine stand. Furthermore, vegetation type appeared to have an influence on which was the dominant sulfur gas released from the forest soils. The added nitrogen caused a dramatic increase in COS emissions from the hardwood stand (a factor of three increase), while CS2 emissions from this site were not affected. We observed the opposite response in the pine stand; that is, the nitrogen fertilization had no affect on COS emissions, but did stimulate CS2 emissions (a factor of more than nine increase).