N2O emission from a temperate forest soil during the freeze-thaw period: A mesocosm study

Increased global warming potential during freeze-thaw cycle is primarily due to the contribution of N2O rather than CO2

While freeze-thaw cycle (FTC) can influence greenhouse gas emissions, the specific greenhouse gas that responds most strongly to FTC, as well as the underlying mechanisms, remain unclear. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the responses of global warming potential (GWP) and the fluxes of CO2 and N2O to FTC. Our results showed that FTC treatment significantly increased GWP, N2O flux, cumulative GWP, and cumulative N2O emissions by 23.1 %, 53.2 %, 14.5 %, and 164.6 %, respectively, but did not affect CO2 flux, indicating that the enhanced GWP during the FTC period may be primarily due to the contribution of N2O flux rather than CO2 flux. The responses of GWP (+68.6 %), CO2 (+21.0 %), and N2O fluxes (+136.3 %) in croplands was higher than those in other ecosystems, exhibiting a strong dependence on ecosystem types. The effect size of FTC treatment on greenhouse gas emissions escalated with decreasing freezing temperature and diminished with increasing FTC frequency. Moreover, mean annual temperature (MAT) and FTC patterns were key factors influencing GWP during the FTC period. These findings provide critical insights into the variations in greenhouse gas emissions due to FTC and its influencing factors, allowing for more accurate predictions of the future impact of global climate change on GWP.

Unraveling the drivers for interannual variabilities of N2O fluxes from forests soils across climatic zones

Forest soils are an important source of nitrous oxide (N2O), however, field observations of N2O emission have often exhibited large variabilities when compared with managed agricultural lands. In the last decade, the number of forest N2O studies has increased more than tenfold, but only a few of them have looked into the interannual flux variabilities from the regional scale. Here, we have collected 30 long-term N2O monitoring studies (≥ 2 years) based on a global database, and extracted variabilities (VARFlux) as well as relative variabilities (VAR%, in proportions) of annual N2O fluxes. The relationship of mean annual precipitation (MAP), mean annual temperature (MAT), and nitrogen (N) deposition with flux variabilities was examined to explore the underlying mechanisms for N2O emission on a long-term scale. Our results show that mean VARFlux is 0.43 kg N ha-1 yr-1 and VAR% is 28.68%. Across climatic zones, the subtropical forests have the largest annual N2O fluxes, as well as the largest fluctuations among annual budgets, while the tropics were the smallest. We found that the regulating factors for VARFlux and VAR% are fundamentally different, i.e., MAT and N input determine the annual fluxes as well as VARFlux while MAP and other limiting soil parameters determine VAR%. The relative contributions of different seasons to flux variabilities were also explored, indicating that N2O fluxes of warm and cool seasons are more responsible for the fluctuations in annual fluxes of the (sub)tropical and temperate forests, respectively. Overall, despite the limitation in interpretations due to few long-term studies from literature, this work highlights that significant interannual variabilities are common phenomena for N2O emission from different climatic zones forest soils; by unraveling the divergent drivers for VARFlux and VAR%, we have provided the possibility of improving N2O simulation models for constraining the heterogeneity of N2O emission processes from climatic zones forest soils.

Responses of Nitrous Oxide Emissions and Bacterial Communities to Experimental Freeze–Thaw Cycles in Contrasting Soil Types

Nitrous oxide (N2O) pulse emissions are detected in soils subjected to freeze–thaw cycles in both laboratory and field experiments. However, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. In this study, a laboratory incubation experiment that included freeze–thaw cycles (FTC), freezing (F) and control (CK) treatments was performed on three typical Chinese upland soils, namely, fluvo-aquic soil (FS), black soil (BS) and loess soil (LS). A higher similarity in soil properties and bacterial community structure was discovered between FS and LS than between FS and BS or LS and BS, and the bacterial diversity of FS and LS was higher than that of BS. FTC significantly increased the denitrification potential and the proportion of N2O in the denitrification gas products in FS and LS but decreased the denitrification potential in BS. Accordingly, with the increasing number of freeze–thaw cycles, the bacterial community composition in the FTC treatments in FS and LS diverged from that in CK but changed little in BS. Taxa that responded to FTC or correlated with denitrification potential were identified. Taken together, our results demonstrated that the effects of FTC on N2O emissions are soil-type-dependent and that the shift in the microbial community structure may contribute to the elevated N2O emissions.

Effects of biochar addition on nitrous oxide emission during soil freeze–thaw cycles

Biochar applied to soil can reduce nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions produced by freeze–thaw processes. Nonetheless, how biochar modification affects N2O emissions during freeze–thaw cycles is not completely clear. In our research, during freeze–thaw cycles, microcosm experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of maize straw biochar (MB) or rice straw biochar (RB) addition on soil N2O emissions under different water conditions. The N2O emissions peaked at the initial stage of thawing in all the soils, and the total N2O emissions were considerably greater in the flooded soils than in the nonflooded soils. Compared with the soils without biochar addition, RB and MB amendments inhibited N2O emissions by 69 and 67%, respectively. Moreover, after biochar addition, the abundance of AOB amoA genes decreased by 9–13%. Biochar addition significantly decreased the content of microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) in flooded soil during thawing, which was significantly correlated with N2O emissions and nitrification and denitrification communities. The PLS-PM further revealed that biochar can inhibit the production and emission of soil N2O by reducing soil MBN during soil thawing. In addition, soil moisture directly significantly affects N2O emissions and indirectly affects N2O emissions through its influence on soil physicochemical properties. Our results revealed the important function of biochar in decreasing the emission of N2O in flooded soil during freeze–thaw cycles.

Effects of in situ freeze-thaw cycles on winter soil respiration in mid-temperate plantation forests

As an important factor regulating soil carbon cycle, freeze-thaw cycle significantly affects winter soil respiration in temperate regions. However, few in situ studies have been carried out to evaluate the effect of freeze-thaw cycle on soil respiration. Here, a field experiment was conducted to explore the response of winter soil respiration to freeze-thaw cycle and the underlying mechanisms in larch and Chinese pine plantation forests in a mid-temperate region. These results indicated that CO₂ emissions during the freeze-thaw period accounted for 18.89-18.94% and 0.79-1.00% of the cumulative winter CO₂ emissions and the annual soil CO₂ emissions, respectively. Soil respiration rates during the thawing phase were 1.54-3.95 times higher than those during the freezing phase, which was mainly due to the increase of soil microbial biomass upon thawing. This effect declined during the second freeze-thaw cycle compared to the first freeze-thaw cycle due to the exhaustion of resources for microbes. The different responses of soil CO₂ flux to freeze-thaw cycle between the two types of forests were mainly because of the difference in the thickness of litter layer, which plays an important role in regulating soil temperature and enzyme activity. These results suggest the intensity and frequency of freeze-thaw cycle strongly affect soil carbon emissions during the freeze-thaw cycle period. Therefore, these factors should be considered in laboratory studies and model simulations under climate change scenarios.

Diurnal variability in soil nitrous oxide emissions is a widespread phenomenon

Manual measurements of nitrous oxide (N₂ O) emissions with static chambers are commonly practised. However, they generally do not consider the diurnal variability of N₂ O flux, and little is known about the patterns and drivers of such variability. We systematically reviewed and analysed 286 diurnal data sets of N₂ O fluxes from published literature to (i) assess the prevalence and timing (day or night peaking) of diurnal N₂ O flux patterns in agricultural and forest soils, (ii) examine the relationship between N₂ O flux and soil temperature with different diurnal patterns, (iii) identify whether non-diurnal factors (i.e. land management and soil properties) influence the occurrence of diurnal patterns and (iv) evaluate the accuracy of estimating cumulative N₂ O emissions with single-daily flux measurements. Our synthesis demonstrates that diurnal N₂ O flux variability is a widespread phenomenon in agricultural and forest soils. Of the 286 data sets analysed, ~80% exhibited diurnal N₂ O patterns, with ~60% peaking during the day and ~20% at night. Contrary to many published observations, our analysis only found strong positive correlations (R > 0.7) between N₂ O flux and soil temperature in one-third of the data sets. Soil drainage property, soil water-filled pore space (WFPS) level and land use were also found to potentially influence the occurrence of certain diurnal patterns. Our work demonstrated that single-daily flux measurements at mid-morning yielded daily emission estimates with the smallest average bias compared to measurements made at other times of day, however, it could still lead to significant over- or underestimation due to inconsistent diurnal N₂ O patterns. This inconsistency also reflects the inaccuracy of using soil temperature to predict the time of daily average N₂ O flux. Future research should investigate the relationship between N₂ O flux and other diurnal parameters, such as photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and root exudation, along with the consideration of the effects of soil moisture, drainage and land use on the diurnal patterns of N₂ O flux. The information could be incorporated in N₂ O emission prediction models to improve accuracy.

Comparison of Soil Greenhouse Gas Fluxes during the Spring Freeze–Thaw Period and the Growing Season in a Temperate Broadleaved Korean Pine Forest, Changbai Mountains, China

Soils in mid-high latitudes are under the great impact of freeze–thaw cycling. However, insufficient research on soil CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes during the spring freeze–thaw (SFT) period has led to great uncertainties in estimating soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. The present study was conducted in a temperate broad-leaved Korean pine mixed forest in Northeastern China, where soils experience an apparent freeze–thaw effect in spring. The temporal variations and impact factors of soil GHG fluxes were measured during the SFT period and growing season (GS) using the static-chamber method. The results show that the soil acted as a source of atmospheric CO2 and N2O and a sink of atmospheric CH4 during the whole observation period. Soil CO2 emission and CH4 uptake were lower during the SFT period than those during the GS, whereas N2O emissions were more than six times higher during the SFT period than that during the GS. The responses of soil GHG fluxes to soil temperature (Ts) and soil moisture during the SFT and GS periods differed. During the SFT period, soil CO2 and CH4 fluxes were mainly affected by the volumetric water content (VWC) and Ts, respectively, whereas soil N2O flux was influenced jointly by Ts and VWC. The dominant controlling factor for CO2 was Ts during the GS, whereas CH4 and N2O were mainly regulated by VWC. Soil CO2 and N2O fluxes accounted for 97.3% and 3.1% of the total 100-year global warming potential (GWP100) respectively, with CH4 flux offsetting 0.4% of the total GWP100. The results highlight the importance of environmental variations to soil N2O pulse during the SFT period and the difference of soil GHG fluxes between the SFT and GS periods, which contribute to predicting the forest soil GHG fluxes and their global warming potential under global climate change.