Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Integrative Biology and DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Inst.
Hubei Univ., Wuhan (China). Faculty of Resources and Environmental Science
Univ. of Agriculture, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan). Dept. of Agronomy
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Center for Advanced Radiation Sources
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences; Michigan State Univ., Hickory Corners, MI (United States). W. K. Kellogg Biological Station
N2O is a highly potent greenhouse gas and arable soils represent its major anthropogenic source. Field-scale assessments and predictions of soil N2O emission remain uncertain and imprecise due to the episodic and microscale nature of microbial N2O production, most of which occurs within very small discrete soil volumes. Such hotspots of N2O production are often associated with decomposing plant residue. Here we quantify physical and hydrological soil characteristics that lead to strikingly accelerated N2O emissions in plant residue-induced hotspots. Results reveal a mechanism for microscale N2O emissions: water absorption by plant residue that creates unique micro-environmental conditions, markedly different from those of the bulk soil. Moisture levels within plant residue exceeded those of bulk soil by 4–10-fold and led to accelerated N2O production via microbial denitrification. The presence of large (Ø >35 μm) pores was a prerequisite for maximized hotspot N2O production and for subsequent diffusion to the atmosphere. Understanding and modelling hotspot microscale physical and hydrologic characteristics is a promising route to predict N2O emissions and thus to develop effective mitigation strategies and estimate global fluxes in a changing environment.
Kravchenko, A. N., et al. "Hotspots of soil N<sub>2</sub>O emission enhanced through water absorption by plant residue." Nature Geoscience, vol. 10, no. 7, Jun. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2963
Kravchenko, A. N., Toosi, E. R., Guber, A. K., Ostrom, N. E., Yu, J., Azeem, K., Rivers, M. L., & Robertson, G. P. (2017). Hotspots of soil N<sub>2</sub>O emission enhanced through water absorption by plant residue. Nature Geoscience, 10(7). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2963
Kravchenko, A. N., Toosi, E. R., Guber, A. K., et al., "Hotspots of soil N<sub>2</sub>O emission enhanced through water absorption by plant residue," Nature Geoscience 10, no. 7 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2963
@article{osti_1418485,
author = {Kravchenko, A. N. and Toosi, E. R. and Guber, A. K. and Ostrom, N. E. and Yu, J. and Azeem, K. and Rivers, M. L. and Robertson, G. P.},
title = {Hotspots of soil N<sub>2</sub>O emission enhanced through water absorption by plant residue},
annote = {N2O is a highly potent greenhouse gas and arable soils represent its major anthropogenic source. Field-scale assessments and predictions of soil N2O emission remain uncertain and imprecise due to the episodic and microscale nature of microbial N2O production, most of which occurs within very small discrete soil volumes. Such hotspots of N2O production are often associated with decomposing plant residue. Here we quantify physical and hydrological soil characteristics that lead to strikingly accelerated N2O emissions in plant residue-induced hotspots. Results reveal a mechanism for microscale N2O emissions: water absorption by plant residue that creates unique micro-environmental conditions, markedly different from those of the bulk soil. Moisture levels within plant residue exceeded those of bulk soil by 4–10-fold and led to accelerated N2O production via microbial denitrification. The presence of large (Ø >35 μm) pores was a prerequisite for maximized hotspot N2O production and for subsequent diffusion to the atmosphere. Understanding and modelling hotspot microscale physical and hydrologic characteristics is a promising route to predict N2O emissions and thus to develop effective mitigation strategies and estimate global fluxes in a changing environment.},
doi = {10.1038/ngeo2963},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1418485},
journal = {Nature Geoscience},
issn = {ISSN 1752-0894},
number = {7},
volume = {10},
place = {United States},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
year = {2017},
month = {06}}