Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China

Seasonal soil freeze-thaw events may enhance soil nitrogen transformation and thus stimulate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in cold regions. However, the mechanisms of soil N2O emission during the freeze-thaw cycling in the field remain unclear. We evaluated N2O emissions and soil biotic and abiotic...

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Main Authors: Zhe CHEN, Shi-qi YANG, Ai-ping ZHANG, Xin JING, Wei-min SONG, Zhao-rong MI, Qing-wen ZHANG, Wen-ying WANG, Zheng-li YANG
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2018-01-01
Series:Journal of Integrative Agriculture
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311917617386
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author Zhe CHEN
Shi-qi YANG
Ai-ping ZHANG
Xin JING
Wei-min SONG
Zhao-rong MI
Qing-wen ZHANG
Wen-ying WANG
Zheng-li YANG
author_facet Zhe CHEN
Shi-qi YANG
Ai-ping ZHANG
Xin JING
Wei-min SONG
Zhao-rong MI
Qing-wen ZHANG
Wen-ying WANG
Zheng-li YANG
author_sort Zhe CHEN
collection DOAJ
description Seasonal soil freeze-thaw events may enhance soil nitrogen transformation and thus stimulate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in cold regions. However, the mechanisms of soil N2O emission during the freeze-thaw cycling in the field remain unclear. We evaluated N2O emissions and soil biotic and abiotic factors in maize and paddy fields over 20 months in Northeast China, and the structural equation model (SEM) was used to determine which factors affected N2O production during non-growing season. Our results verified that the seasonal freeze-thaw cycles mitigated the available soil nitrogen and carbon limitation during spring thawing period, but simultaneously increased the gaseous N2O-N losses at the annual time scale under field condition. The N2O-N cumulative losses during the non-growing season amounted to 0.71 and 0.55 kg N ha−1 for the paddy and maize fields, respectively, and contributed to 66 and 18% of the annual total. The highest emission rates (199.2–257.4 µg m−2 h−1) were observed during soil thawing for both fields, but we did not observe an emission peak during soil freezing in early winter. Although the pulses of N2O emission in spring were short-lived (18 d), it resulted in approximately 80% of the non-growing season N2O-N loss. The N2O burst during the spring thawing was triggered by the combined impact of high soil moisture, flush available nitrogen and carbon, and rapid recovery of microbial biomass. SEM analysis indicated that the soil moisture, available substrates including NH4+ and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) explained 32, 36, 16 and 51% of the N2O flux variation, respectively, during the non-growing season. Our results suggested that N2O emission during the spring thawing make a vital contribution of the annual nitrogen budget, and the vast seasonally frozen and snow-covered croplands will have high potential to exert a positive feedback on climate change considering the sensitive response of nitrogen biogeochemical cycling to the freeze-thaw disturbance.
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publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
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spelling doaj-art-d287a2a6b8334bbcb0601e2d2cef001c2025-08-20T03:58:50ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Integrative Agriculture2095-31192018-01-0117123124610.1016/S2095-3119(17)61738-6Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast ChinaZhe CHEN0Shi-qi YANG1Ai-ping ZHANG2Xin JING3Wei-min SONG4Zhao-rong MI5Qing-wen ZHANG6Wen-ying WANG7Zheng-li YANG8Key Laboratory for Agro-environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China; School of Life Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, P.R.China; CHEN Zhe, Mobile: +86-13099770565Key Laboratory for Agro-environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.ChinaKey Laboratory for Agro-environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.ChinaKey Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Ministry of Education/Department of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, P.R.ChinaCenter for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P.R.ChinaFarmland Irrigation Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xinxiang 453002, P.R.ChinaKey Laboratory for Agro-environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.ChinaSchool of Life Sciences, Qinghai Normal University, Xining 810008, P.R.ChinaKey Laboratory for Agro-environment, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China; Correspondence YANG Zheng-li, Tel: +86-10-82108989Seasonal soil freeze-thaw events may enhance soil nitrogen transformation and thus stimulate nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in cold regions. However, the mechanisms of soil N2O emission during the freeze-thaw cycling in the field remain unclear. We evaluated N2O emissions and soil biotic and abiotic factors in maize and paddy fields over 20 months in Northeast China, and the structural equation model (SEM) was used to determine which factors affected N2O production during non-growing season. Our results verified that the seasonal freeze-thaw cycles mitigated the available soil nitrogen and carbon limitation during spring thawing period, but simultaneously increased the gaseous N2O-N losses at the annual time scale under field condition. The N2O-N cumulative losses during the non-growing season amounted to 0.71 and 0.55 kg N ha−1 for the paddy and maize fields, respectively, and contributed to 66 and 18% of the annual total. The highest emission rates (199.2–257.4 µg m−2 h−1) were observed during soil thawing for both fields, but we did not observe an emission peak during soil freezing in early winter. Although the pulses of N2O emission in spring were short-lived (18 d), it resulted in approximately 80% of the non-growing season N2O-N loss. The N2O burst during the spring thawing was triggered by the combined impact of high soil moisture, flush available nitrogen and carbon, and rapid recovery of microbial biomass. SEM analysis indicated that the soil moisture, available substrates including NH4+ and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) explained 32, 36, 16 and 51% of the N2O flux variation, respectively, during the non-growing season. Our results suggested that N2O emission during the spring thawing make a vital contribution of the annual nitrogen budget, and the vast seasonally frozen and snow-covered croplands will have high potential to exert a positive feedback on climate change considering the sensitive response of nitrogen biogeochemical cycling to the freeze-thaw disturbance.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311917617386N2Onon-growing seasonnitrogen biogeochemical cyclingsoil moisturesnow coverstructural equation model
spellingShingle Zhe CHEN
Shi-qi YANG
Ai-ping ZHANG
Xin JING
Wei-min SONG
Zhao-rong MI
Qing-wen ZHANG
Wen-ying WANG
Zheng-li YANG
Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
Journal of Integrative Agriculture
N2O
non-growing season
nitrogen biogeochemical cycling
soil moisture
snow cover
structural equation model
title Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
title_full Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
title_fullStr Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
title_full_unstemmed Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
title_short Nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze-thaw events from arable soils in Northeast China
title_sort nitrous oxide emissions following seasonal freeze thaw events from arable soils in northeast china
topic N2O
non-growing season
nitrogen biogeochemical cycling
soil moisture
snow cover
structural equation model
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311917617386
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