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Convergence in the relationship of CO 2 and N 2 O exchanges between soil and atmosphere within terrestrial ecosystems
Author(s) -
XU XIAOFENG,
TIAN HANQIN,
HUI DAFENG
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01595.x
Subject(s) - biogeochemical cycle , ecosystem , environmental science , soil water , terrestrial ecosystem , atmosphere (unit) , cycling , temperate climate , atmospheric sciences , environmental chemistry , greenhouse gas , ecology , soil science , chemistry , geography , forestry , biology , geology , meteorology
Ecosystem CO 2 and N 2 O exchanges between soils and the atmosphere play an important role in climate warming and global carbon and nitrogen cycling; however, it is still not clear whether the fluxes of these two greenhouse gases are correlated at the ecosystem scale. We collected 143 pairs of ecosystem CO 2 and N 2 O exchanges between soils and the atmosphere measured simultaneously in eight ecosystems around the world and developed relationships between soil CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes. Significant linear regressions of soil CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes were found for all eight ecosystems; the highest slope occurred in rice paddies and the lowest in temperate grasslands. We also found the dominant role of growing season on the relationship of annual CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes. No significant relationship between soil CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes was found across all eight ecosystem types. The estimated annual global N 2 O emission based on our findings is 13.31 Tg N yr −1 with a range of 8.19–18.43 Tg N yr −1 for 1980–2000, of which cropland contributes nearly 30%. Our findings demonstrated that stoichiometric relationships may work on ecological functions at the ecosystem level. The relationship of soil N 2 O and CO 2 fluxes developed here could be helpful in biogeochemical modeling and large‐scale estimations of soil CO 2 and N 2 O fluxes.