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Nitrous Oxide Emissions (nitrous + oxide_emission)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	42%

Selected Abstracts

Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from a farmed Swedish Histosol

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 3 2009
Å. Kasimir Klemedtsson
Summary Fluxes of the greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from histosolic soils (which account for approximately 10% of Swedish agricultural soils) supporting grassley and barley production in Sweden were measured over 3 years using static chambers. Emissions varied both over area and time. Methane was both produced and oxidized in the soil: fluxes were small, with an average emission of 0.12 g CH4 m,2 year,1 at the grassley site and net uptake of ,0.01 g CH4 m,2 year,1 at the barley field. Methane emission was related to soil water, with more emission when wet. Nitrous oxide emissions varied, with peaks of emission after soil cultivation, ploughing and harrowing. On average, the grassley and barley field had emissions of 0.20 and 1.51 g N2O m,2 year,1, respectively. We found no correlation between N2O and soil factors, but the greatest N2O emission was associated with the driest areas, with < 60% average water-filled pore space. We suggest that the best management option to mitigate emissions is to keep the soil moderately wet with permanent grass production, which restricts N2O emissions whilst minimizing those of CH4. [source]

Contribution of nitrification and denitrification to nitrous oxide emissions from soils after application of biogas waste and other fertilizers,

RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 16 2009
Mehmet Senbayram
The attribution of nitrous oxide (N2O) emission to organic and inorganic N fertilizers requires understanding of how these inputs affect the two biological processes, i.e. denitrification and nitrification. Contradictory findings have been reported when the effects of organic and inorganic fertilizers on nitrous oxide emission were compared. Here we aimed to contribute to the understanding of such variation using 15N-labelling techniques. We determined the processes producing N2O, and tested the effects of soil moisture, N rates, and the availability of organic matter. In a pot experiment, we compared soil treated with biogas waste (BGW) and mineral ammonium sulphate (Min-N) applied at four rates under two soil moisture regimes. We also tested biogas waste, conventional cattle slurry and mineral N fertilizer in a grassland field experiment. During the first 37 days after application we observed N2O emissions of 5.6,kg N2O-N,ha,1 from soils supplied with biogas waste at a rate of 360,kg,N,ha,1. Fluxes were ca. 5-fold higher at 85% than at 65% water holding capacity (WHC). The effects of fertilizer types and N rates on N2O emission were significant only when the soil moisture was high. Organic fertilizer treated soils showed much higher N2O emissions than those receiving mineral fertilizer in both, pot and field experiment. Over all the treatments the percentage of the applied N emitted as N2O was 2.56% in BGW but only 0.68% in Min-N. In the pot experiment isotope labelling indicated that 65,95% of the N2O was derived from denitrification for all fertilizer types. However, the ratio of denitrification/nitrification derived N2O was lower at 65% than at 85% WHC. We speculate that the application of organic matter in conjunction with ammonium nitrogen first leads to a decrease in denitrification-derived N2O emission compared with soil receiving mineral fertilizer. However, at later stages when denitrification becomes C-limited, higher N2O emissions are induced when the soil moisture is high. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Wavelet analysis of the scale- and location-dependent correlation of modelled and measured nitrous oxide emissions from soil

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2005
A. E. Milne
Summary We used the wavelet transform to quantify the performance of models that predict the rate of emission of nitrous oxide (N2O) from soil. Emissions of N2O and other soil variables that influence emissions were measured on soil cores collected at 256 locations across arable land in Bedfordshire, England. Rate-limiting models of N2O emissions were constructed and fitted to the data by functional analysis. These models were then evaluated by wavelet variance and wavelet correlations, estimated from coefficients of the adapted maximal overlap discrete wavelet transform (AMODWT), of the fitted and measured emission rates. We estimated wavelet variances to assess whether the partition of the variance of modelled rates of N2O emission between scales reflected that of the data. Where the relative distribution of variance in the model is more skewed to coarser scales than is the case for the observation, for example, this indicates that the model predictions are too smooth spatially, and fail adequately to represent some of the variation at finer scales. Scale-dependent wavelet correlations between model and data were used to quantify the model performance at each scale, and in several cases to determine the scale at which the model description of the data broke down. We detected significant changes in correlation between modelled and predicted emissions at each spatial scale, showing that, at some scales, model performance was not uniform in space. This suggested that the influence of a soil variable on N2O emissions, important in one region but not in another, had been omitted from the model or modelled poorly. Change points usually occurred at field boundaries or where soil textural class changed. We show that wavelet analysis can be used to quantify aspects of model performance that other methods cannot. By evaluating model behaviour at several scales and positions wavelet analysis helps us to determine whether a model is suitable for a particular purpose. [source]

Climate- and crop-responsive emission factors significantly alter estimates of current and future nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use

GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 9 2005
Helen C. Flynn
Abstract The current Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) default methodology (tier 1) for calculating nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from nitrogen applied to agricultural soils takes no account of either crop type or climatic conditions. As a result, the methodology omits factors that are crucial in determining current emissions, and has no mechanism to assess the potential impact of future climate and land-use change. Scotland is used as a case study to illustrate the development of a new methodology, which retains the simple structure of the IPCC tier 1 methodology, but incorporates crop- and climate-dependent emission factors (EFs). It also includes a factor to account for the effect of soil compaction because of trampling by grazing animals. These factors are based on recent field studies in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK. Under current conditions, the new methodology produces significantly higher estimates of annual N2O emissions than the IPCC default methodology, almost entirely because of the increased contribution of grazed pasture. Total emissions from applied fertilizer and N deposited by grazing animals are estimated at 10 662 t N2O-N yr,1 using the newly derived EFs, as opposed to 6 796 t N2O-N yr,1 using the IPCC default EFs. On a spatial basis, emission levels are closer to those calculated using field observations and detailed soil modelling than to estimates made using the IPCC default methodology. This can be illustrated by parts of the western Ayrshire basin, which have previously been calculated to emit 8,9 kg N2O-N ha,1 yr,1 and are estimated here as 6.25,8.75 kg N2O-N ha,1 yr,1, while the IPCC default methodology gives a maximum emission level of only 3.75 kg N2O-N ha,1 yr,1 for the whole area. The new methodology is also applied in conjunction with scenarios for future climate- and land-use patterns, to assess how these emissions may change in the future. The results suggest that by 2080, Scottish N2O emissions may increase by up to 14%, depending on the climate scenario, if fertilizer and land management practices remain unchanged. Reductions in agricultural land use, however, have the potential to mitigate these increases and, depending on the replacement land use, may even reduce emissions to below current levels. [source]

Soil CN ratio as a scalar parameter to predict nitrous oxide emissions

GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 7 2005
Leif Klemedtsson
Abstract Forested histosols have been found in some cases to be major, and in other cases minor, sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). In order to estimate the total national or global emissions of N2O from histosols, scaling or mapping parameters that can separate low- and high-emitting sites are needed, and should be included in soil databases. Based on interannual measurements of N2O emissions from drained forested histosols in Sweden, we found a strong negative relationship between N2O emissions and soil CN ratios (r2adj=0.96, mean annual N2O emission=ae(,b CN ratio)). The same equation could be used to estimate the N2O emissions from Finnish and German sites based on CN ratios in published data. We envisage that the correlation between N2O emissions and CN ratios could be used to scale N2O emissions from histosols determined at sampled sites to national levels. However, at low CN ratios (i.e. below 15,20) other parameters such as climate, pH and groundwater tables increase in importance as regulating factors affecting N2O emissions. [source]

Plant-mediated nitrous oxide emissions from beech (Fagus sylvatica) leaves

NEW PHYTOLOGIST, Issue 1 2005
Mari Pihlatie
Summary ,,Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission estimates from forest ecosystems are based currently on emission measurements using soil enclosures. Such enclosures exclude emissions via tall plants and trees and may therefore underestimate the whole-ecosystem N2O emissions. ,,Here, we measured plant-mediated N2O emissions from the leaves of potted beech (Fagus sylvatica) seedlings after fertilizing the soil with 15N-labelled ammonium nitrate (15NH415NO3), and after exposing the roots to elevated concentrations of N2O. ,,Ammonium nitrate fertilization induced N2O + 15N2O emissions from beech leaves. Likewise, the foliage emitted N2O after beech roots were exposed to elevated concentrations of N2O. The average N2O emissions from the fertilization and the root exposure experiments were 0.4 and 2.0 µg N m,2 leaf area h,1, respectively. Higher than ambient atmospheric concentrations of N2O in the leaves of the forest trees indicate a potential for canopy N2O emissions in the forest. ,,Our experiments demonstrate the existence of a previously overlooked pathway of N2O to the atmosphere in forest ecosystems, and bring about a need to investigate the magnitude of this phenomenon at larger scales. [source]