Experimentally induced root mortality increased nitrous oxide emission from tropical forest soils

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Read Full Article (file size: 129490 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 3, 1144, doi:10.1029/2002GL016164, 2003 Experimentally induced root mortality increased nitrous oxide emission from tropical forest soils Ruth K. Varner Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Michael Keller Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico Jillana R. Robertson Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Jadson D. Dias Fundacao Floresta Tropical, Santarem, Para, Brazil Hudson Silva Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Fundacao Floresta Tropical, Santarem, Para, Brazil Patrick M. Crill Complex Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA Megan McGroddy Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA Whendee L. Silver Division of Ecosystem Sciences, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA Abstract We conducted an experiment on sand and clay tropical forest soils to test the short-term effect of root mortality on the soil-atmosphere flux of nitrous oxide, nitric oxide, methane, and carbon dioxide. We induced root mortality by isolating blocks of land to 1 m using trenching and root exclusion screening. Gas fluxes were measured weekly for ten weeks following the trenching treatment. For nitrous oxide there was a highly significant increase in soil-atmosphere flux over the ten weeks following treatment for trenched plots compared to control plots. N₂O flux averaged 37.5 and 18.5 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ from clay trenched and control plots and 4.7 and 1.5 ng N cm⁻² h⁻¹ from sand trenched and control plots. In contrast, there was no effect for soil-atmosphere flux of nitric oxide, carbon dioxide, or methane. Published 14 February 2003. Index Terms: 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; 1615 Global Change: Biogeochemical processes (4805); 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 0394 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Instruments and techniques. Read Full Article (file size: 129490 bytes) Cited by Citation: Varner, R. K., M. Keller, J. R. Robertson, J. D. Dias, H. Silva, P. M. Crill, M. McGroddy, and W. L. Silver (2003), Experimentally induced root mortality increased nitrous oxide emission from tropical forest soils, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(3), 1144, doi:10.1029/2002GL016164. Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.

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