Quantification and process distinction of biogenic trace gas fluxes
Funding: DFG FOR 562 TP 3 "Dynamics of soil processes under extreme meteorological boundary conditions"
From 04/2005 to 01/2009
Principal Investigator: Gerhard Gebauer, Werner Borken
Staff: Stefanie Goldberg, Jan Muhr, Klaus-Holger Knorr
The trace gases CO2, CH4, N2O and NOx are formed or consumed in soils mainly by biogenic processes. They exchange with the atmosphere through the soil surface or vegetation. Each of the trace gases can originate from two different processes (CO2: microbial and root respiration; CH4: acetate fermentation and CO2 reduction; N2O and NOx: denitrification and nitrification). Soil temperature and water content are important driving factors for the amount of gas fluxes and the contribution of each of these processes. We expect peaks of the trace gas fluxes attributed to extreme changes of meteorological conditions. This project investigates the dynamic of the trace gas fluxes and the underlying processes after experimental drying/rewetting and freeze/thaw events in two ecosystem types (spruce forest and peat bog) and under laboratory conditions. Isotope abundance analyses of the trace gases and their precursors are used for the source and potentially sink process identification. Identification of underlying processes is essential for improved models of trace gas fluxes.
List of publications of this Project
| • Goldberg, S; Borken, W; Gebauer, G: N2O emission in a Norway spruce forest due to soil frost - Concentration and isotope profiles shed a new light on an old story, Biogeochemistry, 97, 21-30 (2010), doi:10.1007/s10533-009-9294-z |
| • Goldberg, S; Knorr, KH; Blodau, C; Lischeid, G; Gebauer, G: Impact of altering the water table height of an acidic fen on N2O and NO fluxes and soil concentrations, Global Change Biology, 16, 220-233 (2010), doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.02015.x |
| • Goldberg, S; Gebauer, G: Drought turns a Central European Norway spruce forest from an N2O source to a transient N2O sink, Global Change Biology, 15, 850-860 (2009), doi:10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01752.x |
| • Goldberg, S; Gebauer, G: N2O and NO fluxes between a Norway spruce forest soil and atmosphere as affected by prolonged summer drought, Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 41, 1986-1995 (2009), doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.07.001 |
| • Goldberg, S; Knorr, KH; Gebauer, G: N2O concentration and isotope signature along profiles provide deeper insight into the fate of N2O in soils, Isotopes Environm. Health Studies, 44, 377-391 (2008), doi:10.1080/10256010802507433 |
| • Goldberg, S; Muhr, J; Borken, W; Gebauer, G: Fluxes of climate-relevant trace gases between a Norway spruce forest soil and atmosphere during repeated freeze-thaw cycles in mesocosms, Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 171, 729-739 (2008), doi:10.1002/jpln.200700317 |
| • Muhr, J; Goldberg, S; Borken, W; Gebauer, G: Repeated drying-rewetting cycles and their effects on the emission of CO2, N2O, NOx and CH4 in a forest soil, Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 171, 719-728 (2008), doi:10.1002/jpln.200700302 |