Bioethanol from sugarcane is becoming an increasingly important alternative energy source worldwide as it is considered to be both economically and environmentally sustainable. Besides being produced from a tropical perennial grass with high photosynthetic efficiency, sugarcane ethanol is commonly associated with low N fertilizer use because sugarcane from Brazil, the world's largest sugarcane producer, has a low N demand. In recent years, several models have predicted that the use of sugarcane ethanol in replacement to fossil fuel could lead to high greenhouse gas (GHG) emission savings. However, empirical data that can be used to validate model predictions and estimates from indirect methodologies are scarce, especially with regard to emissions associated with different fertilization methods and agricultural management practices commonly used in sugarcane agriculture in Brazil. In this study, we provide in situ data on emissions of three GHG (CO 2 , N 2 O, and CH 4 ) from sugarcane soils in Brazil and assess how they vary with fertilization methods and management practices. We measured emissions during the two main phases of the sugarcane crop cycle (plant and ratoon cane), which include different fertilization methods and field conditions. Our results show that N 2 O and CO 2 emissions in plant cane varied significantly depending on the fertilization method and that waste products from ethanol production used as organic fertilizers with mineral fertilizer, as it is the common practice in Brazil, increase emission rates significantly. Cumulatively, the highest emissions were observed for ratoon cane treated with vinasse (liquid waste from ethanol production) especially as the amount of crop trash on the soil surface increased. Emissions of CO 2 and N 2 O were 6.9 kg ha À1 yr À1 and 7.5 kg ha À1 yr À1, respectively, totaling about 3000 kg in CO 2 equivalent ha À1 yr À1 .

Crop residues returned to the soil are important for the preservation of soil quality, health, and biodiversity, and they increase agriculture sustainability by recycling nutrients. Sugarcane is a bioenergy crop that produces huge amounts of straw (also known as trash) every year. In addition to straw, the ethanol industry also generates large volumes of vinasse, a liquid residue of ethanol production, which is recycled in sugarcane fields as fertilizer. However, both straw and vinasse have an impact on N 2 O fluxes from the soil. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is a primary concern in biofuel sustainability. Because bacteria and archaea are the main drivers of N redox processes in soil, in this study we propose the identification of taxa related with N 2 O fluxes by combining functional responses (N 2 O release) and the abundance of these microorganisms in soil. Using a large-scale in situ experiment with ten treatments, an intensive gas monitoring approach, high-throughput sequencing of soil microbial 16S rRNA gene and powerful statistical methods, we identified microbes related to N 2 O fluxes in soil with sugarcane crops. In addition to the classical denitrifiers, we identified taxa within the phylum Firmicutes and mostly uncharacterized taxa recently described as important drivers of N 2 O consumption. Treatments with straw and vinasse also allowed the identification of taxa with potential biotechnological properties that might improve the sustainability of bioethanol by increasing C yields and improving N efficiency in sugarcane fields.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) from nitrogen fertilizers applied to sugarcane has high environmental impact on ethanol production. This study aimed to determine the main microbial processes responsible for the N2O emissions from soil fertilized with different N sources, to identify options to mitigate N2O emissions, and to determine the impacts of the N sources on the soil microbiome. In a field experiment, nitrogen was applied as calcium nitrate, urea, urea with dicyandiamide or 3,4 dimethylpyrazone phosphate nitrification inhibitors (NIs), and urea coated with polymer and sulfur (PSCU). Urea caused the highest N2O emissions (1.7% of N applied) and PSCU did not reduce cumulative N2O emissions compared to urea. NIs reduced N2O emissions (95%) compared to urea and had emissions comparable to those of the control (no N). Similarly, calcium nitrate resulted in very low N2O emissions. Interestingly, N2O emissions were significantly correlated only with bacterial amoA, but not with denitrification gene (nirK, nirS, nosZ) abundances, suggesting that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, via the nitrification pathway, were the main contributors to N2O emissions. Moreover, the treatments had little effect on microbial composition or diversity. We suggest nitrate-based fertilizers or the addition of NIs in NH4+-N based fertilizers as viable options for reducing N2O emissions in tropical soils and lessening the environmental impact of biofuel produced from sugarcane.

[1] We sampled air in the canopy layer of undisturbed upland forests during wet and dry seasons at three sites in the Brazilian Amazon region and found that both methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) mixing ratios increased at night. Such increases were consistent across sites and seasons. A canopy layer budget model based on measured soil-atmosphere fluxes of CO 2 was constructed to estimate ecosystem CH 4 emission. We estimate that net CH 4 emission in upland forests ranged from 2 to 21 mg CH 4 m À2 d À1 . While the origin of this CH 4 source is unknown, these ground based measurements are consistent with recent findings based on satellite observations that indicate a large, unidentified source of CH 4 in tropical forest regions.

We estimated carbon and nitrogen stocks in aboveground biomass (AGB) and belowground biomass (BGB) along an elevation range in forest sites located on the steep slopes of the Serra do Mar on the north coast of the State of São Paulo, southeast Brazil. In elevations of 100 m (lowland), 400 m (submontane), and 1000 m (montane) four 1-ha plots were established, and above- (live and dead) and belowground (live and dead) biomass were determined. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations in each compartment were determined and used to convert biomass into carbon and nitrogen stocks. The carbon aboveground stock (CAGB) varied along the elevation range from approximately 110 to 150 Mg·ha−1, and nitrogen aboveground stock (NAGB), varied from approximately 1.0 to 1.9 Mg·ha−1. The carbon belowground stock (CBGB) and the nitrogen belowground stock (NBGB) were significantly higher than the AGB and varied along the elevation range from approximately 200–300 Mg·ha−1, and from 14 to 20 Mg·ha−1, respectively. Finally, the total carbon stock (CTOTAL) varied from approximately 320 to 460 Mg·ha−1, and the nitrogen total stock (NTOTAL) from approximately 15 to 22 Mg·ha−1. Most of the carbon and nitrogen stocks were found belowground and not aboveground as normally found in lowland tropical forests. The above- and belowground stocks, and consequently, the total stocks of carbon and nitrogen increased significantly with elevation. As the soil and air temperature also decreased significantly with elevation, we found a significantly inverse relationship between carbon and nitrogen stocks and temperature. Using this inverse relationship, we made a first approach estimate that an increase of 1°C in soil temperature would decrease the carbon and nitrogen stocks in approximately 17 Mg·ha−1 and 1 Mg·ha−1 of carbon and nitrogen, respectively.

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