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Hotspots of Nitrous Oxide Emission in Fertilized and Unfertilized Perennial Grasses
Author(s) -
Mason Cedric W.,
Stoof Cathelijne R.,
Richards Brian K.,
Das Srabani,
Goodale Christine L.,
Steenhuis Tammo S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2016.08.0249
Subject(s) - nitrous oxide , perennial plant , loam , soil water , hotspot (geology) , environmental science , growing season , lolium perenne , water content , agronomy , moisture , hydrology (agriculture) , soil science , chemistry , ecology , biology , geology , geotechnical engineering , organic chemistry , geophysics
Core Ideas We studied hotspots of nitrous oxide emission from perennial grasses on wet soil. Hotspots occurred in a limited range of soil moisture and temperature conditions. Hotspots recurred more frequently at specific places over a three year period. Hotspots of nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission are thought to contribute substantially to annual emissions from agricultural soils. We observed N 2 O fluxes from fertilized and unfertilized C 3 and C 4 perennial grasses on a wet silt loam soil in New York, United States during the growing season in 2013, 2014, and 2015 using static chambers. Analysis of N 2 O hotspots within the research plots revealed that hotspots contributed between 34.3 and 39.1% of the total emissions, and constituted between 0.8% and 5.0% of all flux observations. Hotspots were more frequent and of greater magnitude in the fertilized treatments, and occurred when soil temperature was greater than 9.1°C and soil moisture was between about 40% and 80% water filled pore space (WFPS). A single chamber location in the fertilized switchgrass treatment was consistently a hotspot for N 2 O emission, suggesting that hotspots maintain a stable spatial pattern over extended periods. The maximum magnitude of N 2 O hotspot emission exhibited a relationship to soil temperature that is similar to that of the microbial growth rate constant.