Greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, N2O and CH4) of pea and maize during two cropping seasons: Drivers, budgets, and emission factors for nitrous oxide.

Agriculture contributes considerably to the increase of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Hence, magnitude and drivers of temporal variations in carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes in croplands are urgently needed to develop sustainable, climate-smart agricultural practices. However, our knowledge of GHG fluxes from croplands is still very limited. The eddy covariance technique was used to quantify GHG budgets and N2O emission factors (EF) for pea and maize in Switzerland. The random forest technique was applied for gap-filling N2O and CH4 fluxes as well as to determine the relevance of environmental, vegetation vs. management drivers of the GHG fluxes during two cropping seasons. Environmental (i.e., net radiation, soil water content, soil temperature) and vegetation drivers (i.e., vegetation height) were more important drivers for GHG fluxes at field scale than time since management for the two crop species. Both crops acted as GHG sinks between sowing and harvest, clearly dominated by net CO2 fluxes, while CH4 emissions were negligible. However, considerable N2O emissions occurred in both crop fields early in the season when crops were still establishing. N2O fluxes in both crops were small later in the season when vegetation was tall, despite high soil water contents and temperatures. Results clearly show a strong and highly dynamic microbial-plant competition for N driving N2O fluxes at the field scale. The total loss was 1.4 kg N2O-N ha-1 over 55 days for pea and 4.8 kg N2O-N ha-1 over 127 days for maize. EFs of N2O were 1.5 % (pea) and 4.4 % (maize) during the cropping seasons, clearly exceeding the IPCC Tier 1 EF for N2O. Thus, sustainable, climate-smart agriculture needs to consider crop phenology and better adapt N supply to crop N demand for growth, particularly during the early cropping season when competition for N between establishing crops and soil microorganisms modulates N2O losses.

Nitrate and ammonium differ in their impact on δ13C of plant metabolites and respired CO2 from tobacco leaves.

The carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of foliage is often used as proxy for plant performance. However, the effect of N O 3 - vs. N H 4 + supply on δ13C of leaf metabolites and respired CO2 is largely unknown. We supplied tobacco plants with a gradient of N O 3 - to N H 4 + concentration ratios and determined gas exchange variables, concentrations and δ13C of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates, δ13C of dark-respired CO2, and activities of key enzymes nitrate reductase, malic enzyme and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase. Net assimilation rate, dry biomass and concentrations of organic acids and starch decreased along the gradient. In contrast, respiration rates, concentrations of intercellular CO2, soluble sugars and amino acids increased. As N O 3 - decreased, activities of all measured enzymes decreased. δ13C of CO2 and organic acids closely co-varied and were more positive under N O 3 - supply, suggesting organic acids as potential substrates for respiration. Together with estimates of intra-molecular 13C enrichment in malate, we conclude that a change in the anaplerotic reaction of the TCA cycle possibly contributes to 13C enrichment in organic acids and respired CO2 under N O 3 - supply. Thus, the effect of N O 3 - vs. N H 4 + on δ13C is highly relevant, particularly if δ13C of leaf metabolites or respiration is used as proxy for plant performance.

COSORE: A community database for continuous soil respiration and other soil-atmosphere greenhouse gas flux data.

Globally, soils store two to three times as much carbon as currently resides in the atmosphere, and it is critical to understand how soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and uptake will respond to ongoing climate change. In particular, the soil-to-atmosphere CO2 flux, commonly though imprecisely termed soil respiration (RS ), is one of the largest carbon fluxes in the Earth system. An increasing number of high-frequency RS measurements (typically, from an automated system with hourly sampling) have been made over the last two decades; an increasing number of methane measurements are being made with such systems as well. Such high frequency data are an invaluable resource for understanding GHG fluxes, but lack a central database or repository. Here we describe the lightweight, open-source COSORE (COntinuous SOil REspiration) database and software, that focuses on automated, continuous and long-term GHG flux datasets, and is intended to serve as a community resource for earth sciences, climate change syntheses and model evaluation. Contributed datasets are mapped to a single, consistent standard, with metadata on contributors, geographic location, measurement conditions and ancillary data. The design emphasizes the importance of reproducibility, scientific transparency and open access to data. While being oriented towards continuously measured RS , the database design accommodates other soil-atmosphere measurements (e.g. ecosystem respiration, chamber-measured net ecosystem exchange, methane fluxes) as well as experimental treatments (heterotrophic only, etc.). We give brief examples of the types of analyses possible using this new community resource and describe its accompanying R software package.

Greenhouse gas fluxes over managed grasslands in Central Europe.

Central European grasslands are characterized by a wide range of different management practices in close geographical proximity. Site-specific management strategies strongly affect the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of the three greenhouse gases (GHG) carbon dioxide (CO2 ), nitrous oxide (N2 O), and methane (CH4 ). The evaluation of environmental impacts at site level is challenging, because most in situ measurements focus on the quantification of CO2 exchange, while long-term N2 O and CH4 flux measurements at ecosystem scale remain scarce. Here, we synthesized ecosystem CO2 , N2 O, and CH4 fluxes from 14 managed grassland sites, quantified by eddy covariance or chamber techniques. We found that grasslands were on average a CO2 sink (-1,783 to -91 g CO2  m-2  year-1 ), but a N2 O source (18-638 g CO2 -eq. m-2  year-1 ), and either a CH4 sink or source (-9 to 488 g CO2 -eq. m-2  year-1 ). The net GHG balance (NGB) of nine sites where measurements of all three GHGs were available was found between -2,761 and -58 g CO2 -eq. m-2  year-1 , with N2 O and CH4 emissions offsetting concurrent CO2 uptake by on average 21 ± 6% across sites. The only positive NGB was found for one site during a restoration year with ploughing. The predictive power of soil parameters for N2 O and CH4 fluxes was generally low and varied considerably within years. However, after site-specific data normalization, we identified environmental conditions that indicated enhanced GHG source/sink activity ("sweet spots") and gave a good prediction of normalized overall fluxes across sites. The application of animal slurry to grasslands increased N2 O and CH4 emissions. The N2 O-N emission factor across sites was 1.8 ± 0.5%, but varied considerably at site level among the years (0.1%-8.6%). Although grassland management led to increased N2 O and CH4 emissions, the CO2 sink strength was generally the most dominant component of the annual GHG budget.

Plasticity in gas-exchange physiology of mature Scots pine and European larch drive short- and long-term adjustments to changes in water availability.

Adjustment mechanisms of trees to changes in soil-water availability over long periods are poorly understood, but crucial to improve estimates of forest development in a changing climate. We compared mature trees of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and European larch (Larix decidua) growing along water-permeable channels (irrigated) and under natural conditions (control) at three sites in inner-Alpine dry valleys. At two sites, the irrigation had been stopped in the 1980s. We combined measurements of basal area increment (BAI), tree height and gas-exchange physiology (Δ13 C) for the period 1970-2009. At one site, the Δ13 C of irrigated pine trees was higher than that of the control in all years, while at the other sites, it differed in pine and larch only in years with dry climatic conditions. During the first decade after the sudden change in water availability, the BAI and Δ13 C of originally irrigated pine and larch trees decreased instantly, but subsequently reached higher levels than those of the control by 2009 (15 years afterwards). We found a high plasticity in the gas-exchange physiology of pine and larch and site-specific responses to changes in water availability. Our study highlights the ability of trees to adjust to new conditions, thus showing high resilience.

Greenhouse gas budget (CO2, CH4 and N2O) of intensively managed grassland following restoration.

The first full greenhouse gas (GHG) flux budget of an intensively managed grassland in Switzerland (Chamau) is presented. The three major trace gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were measured with the eddy covariance (EC) technique. For CO2 concentrations, an open-path infrared gas analyzer was used, while N2O and CH4 concentrations were measured with a recently developed continuous-wave quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer (QCLAS). We investigated the magnitude of these trace gas emissions after grassland restoration, including ploughing, harrowing, sowing, and fertilization with inorganic and organic fertilizers in 2012. Large peaks of N2O fluxes (20-50 nmol m(-2) s(-1) compared with a <5 nmol m(-2) s(-1) background) were observed during thawing of the soil after the winter period and after mineral fertilizer application followed by re-sowing in the beginning of the summer season. Nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes were controlled by nitrogen input, plant productivity, soil water content and temperature. Management activities led to increased variations of N2O fluxes up to 14 days after the management event as compared with background fluxes measured during periods without management (<5 nmol m(-2) s(-1)). Fluxes of CO2 remained small until full plant development in early summer 2012. In contrast, methane emissions showed only minor variations over time. The annual GHG flux budget was dominated by N2O (48% contribution) and CO2 emissions (44%). CH4 flux contribution to the annual budget was only minor (8%). We conclude that recently developed multi-species QCLAS in an EC system open new opportunities to determine the temporal variation of N2O and CH4 fluxes, which further allow to quantify annual emissions. With respect to grassland restoration, our study emphasizes the key role of N2O and CO2 losses after ploughing, changing a permanent grassland from a carbon sink to a significant carbon source.

Ontogeny and leaf gas exchange mediate the carbon isotopic signature of herbaceous plants.

Values (Δ(i)) predicted by a simplified photosynthetic discrimination model, based only on diffusion through air followed by carboxylation, are often used to infer ecological conditions from the ¹³C signature of plant organs (δ¹³C(p)). Recent studies showed that additional isotope discrimination (d that includes mesophyll conductance, photorespiration and day respiration, and post-carboxylation discrimination) can strongly affect δ¹³C(p); however, little is known about its variability during plant ontogeny for different species. Effect of ontogeny on leaf gas exchange rates, Δ(i) , observed discrimination (Δ(p)) and d in leaf, phloem and root of seven herbaceous species at three ontogenetic stages were investigated under controlled conditions. Functional group identity and ontogeny significantly affected Δ(i) and Δ(p). However, predicted Δ(i) did not match Δ(p). d, strongly affected by functional group identity and ontogeny, varied by up to 14 ‰. d scaled tightly with stomatal conductance, suggesting complex controls including changes in mesophyll conductance. The magnitude of the changes in δ¹³C(p) due to ontogeny was similar to that due to environmental factors reported in other studies. d and ontogeny should, therefore, be considered in ecosystem studies, integrated in ecosystem models using δ¹³C(p) and limit the applicability of δ¹³C(leaf) as a proxy for water-use efficiency in herbaceous plants.

Optimization of automated gas sample collection and isotope ratio mass spectrometric analysis of delta(13)C of CO(2) in air.

The application of (13)C/(12)C in ecosystem-scale tracer models for CO(2) in air requires accurate measurements of the mixing ratios and stable isotope ratios of CO(2). To increase measurement reliability and data intercomparability, as well as to shorten analysis times, we have improved an existing field sampling setup with portable air sampling units and developed a laboratory setup for the analysis of the delta(13)C of CO(2) in air by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). The changes consist of (a) optimization of sample and standard gas flow paths, (b) additional software configuration, and (c) automation of liquid nitrogen refilling for the cryogenic trap. We achieved a precision better than 0.1 per thousand and an accuracy of 0.11 +/- 0.04 per thousand for the measurement of delta(13)C of CO(2) in air and unattended operation of measurement sequences up to 12 h.