Exchange of gaseous nitrogen compounds between agricultural systems and the atmosphere

Crop and livestock agricultural production systems are important contributors to local, regional and global budgets of NH₃, NO_x (NO + NO₂) and N₂O. Emissions of NH₃ and NO_x (which are biologically and chemically active) into the atmosphere serve to redistribute fixed N to local and regional aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems that may otherwise be disconnected from the sources of the N gases. The emissions of NO_x also contribute to local elevated ozone concentrations while N₂O emissions contribute to global greenhouse gas accumulation and to stratospheric ozone depletion.Ammonia is the major gaseous base in the atmosphere and serves to neutralize about 30% of the hydrogen ions in the atmosphere. Fifty to 75% of the 55 Tg N yr^–1 NH₃ from terrestrial systems is emitted from animal and crop-based agriculture from animal excreta and synthetic fertilizer application. About half of the 50 Tg N yr^–1 of NO_x emitted from the earth surface annually arises from fossil fuel combustion and the remainder from biomass burning and emissions from soil. The NO_x emitted, principally as nitric oxide (NO), reacts rapidly in the atmosphere and in a complex cycle with light, ozone and hydrocarbons, and produces nitric acid and particulate nitrate. These materials can interact with plants and the soil locally or be transported form the site and interact with atmospheric particulate to form aerosols. These salts and aerosols return to fertilize terrestrial and aquatic systems in wet and dry deposition. A small fraction of this N may be biologically converted to N₂O. About 5% of the total atmospheric greenhouse effect is attributed to N₂O from which 70% of the annual global anthropogenic emissions come from animal and crop production.The coupling of increased population with a move of a large sector of the world population to diets that require more energy and N input, will lead to continued increases in anthropogenic input into the global N cycle. This scenario suggests that emissions of NH₃, NO_x and N₂O from agricultural systems will continue to increase and impact global terrestrial and aquatic systems, even those far removed from agricultural production, to an ever growing extent, unless N resources are used more efficiently or food consumption trends change.     

The Effect of Increased N Deposition on Nitrous oxide, Methane and Carbon dioxide Fluxes from Unmanaged Forest and Grassland Communities in Michigan

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is anticipated to increase over the next decades with possible implications for future forest-atmosphere interactions. Increased soil N₂O emissions, depressed CH₄ uptake and depressed soil respiration CO₂ loss is considered a likely response to increased N deposition. This study examined fluxes of N₂O, CH₄ and CO₂ over two growing seasons from soils in unmanaged forest and grassland communities on abandoned agricultural areas in Michigan. All sites were subject to simulated increased N-deposition in the range of 1–3 g N m⁻² annually. Nitrous oxide fluxes and soil N concentrations in coniferous and grassland sites were on the whole unaffected by the increased N-inputs. It is noteworthy though that N₂O emissions increased three-fold in the coniferous sites in the first growing season in response to the low N treatment, although the response was barely significant (p<0.06). In deciduous forests, we observed increased levels of soil mineral N during the second year of N fertilization, however N₂O fluxes did not increase. Rates of methane oxidation were similar in all sites with no affect of field N application. Likewise, we did not observe any changes in soil CO₂ efflux in response to N additions. The combination of tillage history and vegetation type was important for the trace gas fluxes, i.e. soil CO₂ efflux was greater in successional grassland sites compared with the forested sites and CH₄ uptake was reduced in post-tillage coniferous- and successional sites compared with the old-growth deciduous site. Our results indicate that short-term increased N availability influenced individual processes linked to trace gas turnover in the soil independently from the ecosystem N status. However, changes in whole system fluxes were not evident and were very likely mediated by competitive N uptake processes.     

Use of sod cutting for restoration of wet heathlands: revegetation and establishment of typical species in relation to soil conditions

Abstract. Field observations in sod-cut wet Molinia caerulea dominated heath lands revealed information on the revegetation process in relation to plot age and soil variables. Data on the most common species; Erica tetralix, Molinia caerulea, Drosera intermedia and Rhynchospora fusca show that Molinia tends to dominate again within a few years. Whereas the other species are affected in their development by either groundwater regime, soil acidity, nutrient availability or cut depth, Molinia caerulea is highly competitive in all situations. Soil acidity is the major factor affecting species diversity.     

Effects of air pollutant-temperature interactions on mineral-N dynamics and cation leaching in reciplicate forest soil transplantation experiments

Increased emissions of nitrogen compounds have led to atmosphericdeposition to forest soils exceeding critical loads of N overlarge parts of Europe. To determine whether the chemistry offorest soils responds to changes in throughfall chemistry, intactsoil columns were reciprocally transplanted between sites, withdifferent physical conditions, across a gradient of N and Sdeposition in Europe.The transfer of a single soil to the various sites affected itsnet nitrification. This was not simply due to the nitrificationof different levels of N deposition but was explained bydifferences in physical climates which influenced mineralizationrates. Variation in the amount of net nitrification between soiltypes at a specific site were explained largely by soil pH.Within a site all soil types showed similar trends in netnitrification over time. Seasonal changes in net nitrificationcorresponds to oscillations in temperature but variable time lagshad to be introduced to explain the relationships. WithArrhenius law it was possible to approximate gross nitrificationas a function of temperature. Gross nitrification equalled netnitrification after adaptation of the microbial community oftransplanted soils to the new conditions. Time lags, andunderestimates of gross nitrification in autumn, were assumed tobe the result of increased NH ₄ ⁺ availability due either tochanges in the relative rates of gross and net N transformationsor to altered soil fauna-microbial interactions combined withimproved moisture conditions.Losses of NO ₃ ^- were associated with Ca²⁺and Mg²⁺ in non-acidified soil types and with losses ofAl³⁺ in the acidified soils. For single soils the ionequilibrium equation of Gaines-Thomas provided a useful approximationof Al³⁺ concentrations in the soil solution as a functionof the concentration of Ca²⁺. The between site deviationsfrom this predicted equilibrium, which existed for single soils, couldbe explained by differences in throughfall chemistry which affectedthe total ionic strength of the soil solution.The approach of reciprocally transferring soil columnshighlighted the importance of throughfall chemistry, interactingwith the effect of changes in physical climate on forest soilacidification through internal proton production, in determiningsoil solution chemistry. A framework outlining the etiology offorest die-back induced by nitrogen saturation is proposed.     

Global atmospheric change effects on terrestrial carbon sequestration: Exploration with a global C- and N-cycle model (CQUESTN)

A model of the interacting global carbon and nitrogen cycles (CQUESTN) is developed to explore the possible history of C-sequestration into the terrestrial biosphere in response to the global increases (past and possible future) in atmospheric CO₂ concentration, temperature and N-deposition. The model is based on published estimates of pre-industrial C and N pools and fluxes into vegetation, litter and soil compartments. It was found necessary to assign low estimates of N pools and fluxes to be compatible with the more firmly established C-cycle data. Net primary production was made responsive to phytomass N level, and to CO₂ and temperature deviation from preindustrial values with sensitivities covering the ranges in the literature. Biological N-fixation could be made either unresponsive to soil C:N ratio, or could act to tend to restore the preindustrial C:N of humus with different N-fixation intensities. As for all such simulation models, uncertainties in both data and functional relationships render it more useful for qualitative evaluation than for quantitative prediction.With the N-fixation response turned off, the historic CO₂ increase led to standard-model sequestration into terrestrial ecosystems in 1995AD of 1.8 Gt C yr^–1. With N-fixation restoring humus C:N strongly, C sequestration was 3 Gt yr^–1 in 1995. In both cases C:N of phytomass and litter increased with time and these increases were plausible when compared with experimental data on CO₂ effects. The temperature increase also caused net C sequestration in the model biosphere because decrease in soil organic matter was more than offset by the increase in phytomass deriving from the extra N mineralised. For temperature increase to reduce system C pool size, the biosphere leakiness to N would have to increase substantially with temperature. Assuming a constant N-loss coefficient, the historic temperature increase alone caused standard-model net C sequestration to be about 0.6 Gt C in 1995. Given the disparity of plant and microbial C:N, the modelled impact of anthropogenic N-deposition on C-sequestration depends substantially on whether the deposited N is initially taken up by plants or by soil microorganisms. Assuming the latter, standard-model net sequestration in 1995 was 0.2 Gt C in 1995 from the N-deposition effect alone. Combining the effects of the historic courses of CO₂, temperature and N-deposition, the standard-model gave C-sequestration of 3.5 Gt in 1995. This involved an assumed weak response of biological N-fixation to the increased carbon status of the ecosystem. For N-fixation to track ecosystem C-fixation in the long term however, more phosphorus must enter the biological cycle. New experimental evidence shows that plants in elevated CO₂ have the capacity to mobilize more phosphorus from so-called unavailable sources using mechanisms involving exudation of organic acids and phosphatases.     

Annual nitrogen budget of a temperate coastal barrier salt-marsh system along a productivity gradient at low and high marsh elevation

An annual nitrogen budget was established for a temperate back barrier salt-marsh system along a productivity gradient at low and high marsh elevation. We measured plant biomass and nitrogen content in three plant compartments to deduce plant N-allocation patterns. Measurements were done along a successional sequence in a salt-marsh system. In addition, N-mineralization, wet and dry atmospheric N-deposition and sediment N-deposition were measured.

Plant-species dominance changed along the successional sequence. In early stages, Elymus farctus and Spergularia media formed a large part of total plant biomass. Festuca rubra and Puccinellia maritima were dominant at intermediate stages, whereas Elymus pycnanthus and Limonium vulgare were dominant at late stages of succession. Shoot biomass was highest in June, whereas litter biomass was highest in September and December. Root biomass formed by far the largest fraction of total plant biomass, especially at a low-marsh elevation.

Wet deposition of nitrate and ammonium was 1.7 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹, whereas throughfall deposition (dry and wet deposition) amounted to 2.1–3.6 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹, and was positively related to the height of an artificial plant canopy. Sediment organic nitrogen deposition rate was 0.3–5.4 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹, and negatively related to marsh elevation. Nitrogen mineralization rate increased from 2.5–2.8 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹ in young marshes towards 8.0–12.7 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹ at older marshes, depending on marsh elevation.

At a low-marsh elevation, plant N-availability depended equally on tidal N, atmospheric N and mineralized N, especially in young marshes, whereas the decomposition pathway became more important in older marshes. Tidal N contributed most to ecoystem N-accumulation rate at early successional stages, whereas atmospheric N was more important at later stages. Tidal influence was low at high-marsh elevation sites. Here, atmospheric deposition was the dominant exogenous nitrogen source both in young and old marshes.     

Impacts of climate change on the tree line

The possible effects of climate change on the advance of the tree line are considered. As temperature, elevated CO(2) and nitrogen deposition co-vary, it is impossible to disentangle their impacts without performing experiments. However, it does seem very unlikely that photosynthesis per se and, by implication, factors that directly influence photosynthesis, such as elevated CO(2), will be as important as those factors which influence the capacity of the tree to use the products of photosynthesis, such as temperature. Moreover, temperature limits growth more severely than it limits photosynthesis over the temperature range 5-20 degrees C. If it is assumed that growth and reproduction are controlled by temperature, a rapid advance of the tree line would be predicted. Indeed, some authors have provided photographic evidence and remotely sensed data that suggest this is, in fact, occurring. In regions inhabited by grazing animals, the advance of the tree line will be curtailed, although growth of trees below the tree line will of course increase substantially.