Sources of nitrous oxide and fate of mineral nitrogen in sub-Arctic permafrost peat soils

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from permafrost-affected terrestrial ecosystems have received little attention, largely because they have been thought to be negligible. Recent studies, however, have shown that there are habitats in the subarctic tundra emitting N2O at high rates, such as bare peat (BP) surfaces on permafrost peatlands. Nevertheless, the processes behind N2O production in these high-emission habitats are poorly understood. In this study, we established an in situ 15N-labeling experiment with two main objectives: (1) to partition the microbial sources of N2O emitted from BP surfaces on permafrost peatlands and (2) to study the fate of ammonium and nitrate in these soils and in adjacent vegetated peat (VP) surfaces showing low N2O emissions. Our results confirm the hypothesis that denitrification is mostly responsible for the high N2O emissions from BP. During the study period, denitrification contributed ∼ 79 % of the total N2O emissions from BP, whereas the contribution from ammonia oxidation was less (about 19 %). Both gross N mineralization and gross nitrification rates were higher in BP than in VP, with high C/N ratios and a low water content likely limiting N transformation processes and, consequently, N2O production in the latter soil type. Our results show that multiple factors contribute to high N2O production in BP surfaces on permafrost peatlands, with the most important factors being the absence of plants, an intermediate to high water content and a low C/N ratio, which all affect the mineral-N availability for soil microbes, including those producing N2O. The process understanding produced here is important for the development of process models that can be used to evaluate future permafrost–N feedbacks to the climate system.peerReviewe

Towards constraining the circumpolar nitrous oxide budget

Arctic soils and sediments are well known for their huge carbon stocks and the significant positive feedback carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions can have on climate change. However, the vast amounts of nitrogen (N) and possible emissions of the strong greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) from Arctic soils are much less considered in this context. Arctic soils have been neglected in global N2O accounting, since their N2O emissions were traditionally thought to be low due to the general N-limitation of biological processes. Recent results suggest, however, that this assumption is unwarranted and needs to be revised. Still, although we know about the risk for increasing N2O emissions from the Arctic with warming, data are available only from a handful of sites and we are lacking any estimate on the circumarctic N2O budget even under the present climate. This presentation will introduce our plan to produce the first circumarctic N2O budget, an important baseline scenario against which changes in circumarctic N2O emissions can be observed with ongoing warming and global change. In order to estimate the first circumarctic N2O budget, we synthesize existing data and organize large-scale surveys of N2O fluxes across the Circumarctic. In our synthesis effort, we collect published and unpublished data on N2O emissions and N2O soil gas concentrations and analyze the data for driving variables and mechanisms underlying the N2O fluxes from various sites with different soil and vegetation characteristics. In addition, we organize measurement campaigns (via the INTERACT remote access program) to quantify N2O fluxes across a wide variety of Arctic sites using a network of collaborator stations with simple, standardized methods, and combine this N2O screening with GIS approaches to scale up the N2O fluxes step-wise from plot to regional and circumarctic levels. Ultimately, these data will be combined with existing data-sets and archived in a database that will be made available for process modelers in order to develop and improve the performance N2O models for permafrost soils. N2O flux data were published in 21 articles from 16 Arctic sites. In the frame of this project, N2O flux measurements were conducted in 2018 at 18 study sites located in Russia, Scandinavia, Svalbard, Canada and Alaska. First analyses show that N2O is released from a range of environmentally distinct sites and at variable magnitudes with soil N content, soil C/N ratios, vegetation cover, water availability, and nutrient content likely playing significant roles. Ultimately, this project will not only provide a valuable input towards the first estimate of the circumarctic N2O budget but also towards understanding the controls of Arctic N2O fluxes which is necessary for future projections. There is urgent need for collaboration among partners in this effort and we would thus like to invite interested researchers to contribute with further published or unpublished data on N2O fluxes/concentrations from Arctic sites to support our synthesis effort. Scientists are also highly requested to sample additional N2O data from “their” Arctic sites with the simple methods introduced here, in order to help us filling large data gaps

Genomic era and new challenges for justice & regulation

We are now faced with unprecedented progress in genomic research. Findings can be used for family planning, prediction, prevention and treatment of diseases, understand disabilities and behaviour disorder