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Soil nitrogen cycling and nitrous oxide flux in a Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir forest - Effects of fertilization, irrigation and carbon additionNitrous oxide fluxes and soil nitrogen transformations were measured in experimentally-treated high elevation Douglas-fir forests in northwestern New Mexico. On an annual basis, forests that were fertilized with 200 kg N/ha emitted an average of 0.66 kg/ha of N2O-N, with highest fluxes occurring in July and August when soils were both warm and wet. Control, irrigated, and woodchip treated plots were not different from each other, and annual average fluxes ranged from 0.03 to 0.23 kg/ha. Fertilized soil mineralized 277 kg/ha per year in contrast to 18 kg/ha per year in control plots. Relative recovery of (N-15)H4-N applied to soil in laboratory incubations was principally in the form of NO3-N in the fertilized soils, while recovery was mostly in microbial biomass-N in the other treatments. Fertilization apparently added nitrogen that exceeded the heterotrophic microbial demand, resulting in higher rates of nitrate production and higher nitrous oxide fluxes. Global inputs of nitrogen into forests are not currently contributing significantly to the increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere.
Document ID
19930062478
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Matson, Pamela A.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Gower, Stith T.
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, United States)
Volkmann, Carol
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Billow, Christine
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Grier, Charles C.
(Utah State Univ. Logan, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Biogeochemistry
ISSN: 0168-2563
Subject Category
Geosciences (General)
Accession Number
93A46475
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF BSR-84-17096
CONTRACT_GRANT: NCA2-141
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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