Nitrous oxide consumption potentials of well-drained forest soils in Southern Québec, Canada.

To establish the major controls on N2O consumption by forest soils, we conducted laboratory incubations of 16 samples from four soil types, two organic and two mineral, varying in overlying forest vegetation (sugar maple, American beech and eastern hemlock). The fastest potential consumption of N2O occurred under anoxic conditionswith little soil nitrate and under elevated headspaceN2O concentration. Potential N2O consumption rates were fastest in organic soils under hemlock and beech trees (111 and 75 ng N2O-Ng−1 d−1, respectively) compared to mineral soils under beech and maple trees (45 and 41 ng N2O-N g−1 d−1). Organic soils showed faster N2O consumption rates than mineral soils, possibly due to larger organic C levels and higher C:N ratios. Acetylene treatment confirmed that denitrification was the process underlyingN2Oconsumption. These results suggest that soils regularly consume N2O with varying magnitude, most likely in anoxic microsites throughout the soil profile and that the potential for N2O consumption is larger in organic than in mineral forest soils

Greenhouse gas fluxes from boreal forest soils during the snow-free period in Quebec, Canada.

This paper presents soil fluxes of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and carbon dioxide (CO2) from 12 sites located in four major forest types, black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) BSP), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), aspen (Populus spp.), and alder (Alnus spp.) stands, in the Eastmain and Chibougamau regions of Quebec. Fluxes were determined with closed chambers during the snow-free period from May to October 2007. Well-drained black spruce, jack pine, and aspen forest soils were net sinks of atmospheric CH4 (–0.33 ± 0.11 mg·m–2·day–1), while alder-dominated wetland soils were sources of CH4 (0.45 ± 0.12 mg·m–2·day–1). The cut-over alder wetland soil produced 131 times more CH4 than the undisturbed wetland soil. Soil moisture and temperature mainly regulated CH4 fluxes. N2O fluxes from these forest soils were highly variable and smaller (1.6 ± 0.33 µg N·m–2·h–1) than those from deciduous forest soils. N2O emission from the cut-over black spruce forest soil was 2.7 times greater than that from the mature black spruce forest soil. Large C/N ratios (27 to 78) and slow soil N mineralization and nitrification rates in these forest soils may have led to small N2O fluxes. CO2 emissions from these forest soils, ranging from 0.20 to 2.7 g·m–2·day–1, were mainly controlled by soil temperature

Potential next term fluxes of N2O and CH4 from soils of three forest types in Eastern Canada.

We conducted laboratory incubation experiments to elucidate the influence of forest type and topographic position on emission and/or consumption previous termpotentialsnext term of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) from soils of three forest types in Eastern Canada. Soil samples collected from deciduous, black spruce and white pine forests were incubated under a control, an NH4NO3 amendment and an elevated headspace CH4 concentration at 70% water-filled pore space (WFPS), except the poorly drained wetland soils which were incubated at 100% WFPS. Deciduous and boreal forest soils exhibited greater previous termpotentialnext term of N2O and CH4 fluxes than did white pine forest soils. Mineral N addition resulted in significant increases in N2O emissions from wetland forest soils compared to the unamended soils, whereas well-drained soils exhibited no significant increase in N2O emissions in-response to mineral N additions. Soils in deciduous, boreal and white pine forests consumed CH4 when incubated under an elevated headspace CH4 concentration, except the poorly drained soils in the deciduous forest, which emitted CH4. CH4 consumption rates in deciduous and boreal forest soils were twice the amount consumed by the white pine forest soils. The results suggest that an episodic increase in reactive N input in these forests is not likely to increase N2O emissions, except from the poorly drained wetland soils; however, long-term in situ N fertilization studies are required to validate the observed results. Moreover, wetland soils in the deciduous forest are net sources of CH4 unlike the well-drained soils, which are net sinks of atmospheric CH4. Because wetland soils can produce a substantial amount of CH4 and N2O, the contribution of these wetlands to the total trace gas fluxes need to be accounted for when modeling fluxes from forest soils in Eastern Canada