Substantial uptake of nitrous oxide (N2O) by shoots of mature European beech.
Sci Total Environ
; 934: 173122, 2024 Jul 15.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38734086
ABSTRACT
Similar to soils, tree stems emit and consume nitrous oxide (N2O) from the atmosphere. Although tree leaves dominate tree surface area, they have been completely excluded from field N2O flux measurements and therefore their role in forest N2O exchange remains unknown. We explored the contribution of leaf fluxes to forest N2O exchange. We determined the N2O exchange of mature European beech (Fagus sylvatica) stems and shoots (i.e., terminal branches) and of adjacent forest floor, in a typical temperate upland forest in Germany. The beech stems, and particularly the shoots, acted as net N2O sinks (-0.254 ± 0.827 µg N2O m-2 stem area h-1 and -4.54 ± 1.53 µg N2O m-2 leaf area h-1, respectively), while the forest floor was a net source (2.41 ± 1.08 µg N2O m-2 soil area h-1). The unstudied tree shoots were identified as a significant contributor to the net ecosystem N2O exchange. Moreover, we revealed for the first time that tree leaves act as substantial N2O sinks. Although this is the first study of its kind, it is of global importance for the proper design of future flux studies in forest ecosystems worldwide. Our results demonstrate that excluding tree leaves from forest N2O flux measurements can lead to misinterpretation of tree and forest N2O exchange, and thus global forest greenhouse gas flux inventories.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Fagus
/
Air Pollutants
/
Nitrous Oxide
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Total Environ
/
Sci. total environ
/
Science of the total environment
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
Países Bajos