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Cross‐system comparisons of soil nitrogen transformations and nitrous oxide flux in tropical forest ecosystems
Author(s) -
Matson Pamela A.,
Vitousek Peter M.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/gb001i002p00163
Subject(s) - nitrous oxide , nitrification , nitrogen cycle , environmental science , mineralization (soil science) , soil water , nitrogen , ultisol , amazonian , oxisol , ecosystem , cycling , denitrification , environmental chemistry , ecology , chemistry , soil science , forestry , amazon rainforest , geography , biology , organic chemistry
Soil nitrogen transformations and nitrous oxide flux across the soil‐air interface were measured in a range of tropical forest sites in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Hawaii. Nitrogen mineralization and nitrification potentials were high in the relatively fertile Costa Rica sites and the Amazonian oxisol/ultisols (>1.5 μg g −1 d −1 of N mineralized), intermediate in Amazonian white sand soils (0.5‐0.8 μg g −1 d −1 ) and low in the Hawaiian montane sites (<0.5 μg g −1 d −1 ). Nitrous oxide fluxes ranged from 0 to 6.2 ng cm −2 h −1 of N; mean flux per site was highly correlated with mean nitrogen mineralization across 26 sites. These correlated patterns of nitrogen cycling and trace gas production could be useful in the development of regional‐ and global‐scale estimates of nitrous oxide fluxes from tropical forests.