Molecular techniques and stable isotope ratios at natural abundance give complementary inferences about N2O production pathways in an agricultural soil following a rainfall event

Snider, David; Thompson, Karen A.; Wagner-Riddle, Claudia; Spoelstra, John; Dunfield, Kari E.

doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.05.021

Cited by 58 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 118 publications

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“…The manure amendment did not have an effect on δ 18 O‐NO 3 − values because they are controlled by the 18 O/ 16 O isotope ratio of molecular oxygen (O 2 ) and soil water (Aleem, 1965; Hollocher et al, 1981; Andersson and Hooper, 1983; Hollocher, 1984; DiSpirito and Hooper, 1986), which would not change appreciably after manure application. The δ 18 O‐NO 3 − values at our site were very close to δ 18 O values of NO 3 − produced by nitrification in laboratory incubations of soil at a nearby agricultural field (Snider et al, 2010).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Under these conditions the observed isotope effect was small, so the d 15 N-NO 3 − value was much closer to that of the remaining NH 4 + substrate (Heaton, 1986). The d 15 N-NO 3 − value in the spring and fall fields remained between +5.6 and +6.8‰ until at least 4 June 2012; however, a small increase to +9.0‰ was observed in the spring field after a large rain event (described in Snider et al, 2015), which was probably a result of soil denitrification induced by high soil moisture.…”

Section: Determining E the 15 N/ 14 N Enrichment Factor For Nitrificmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Each field was planted with corn (Zea mays L.) on 10 May 2012, rolled the next day, and sprayed with herbicide on 14 May 2012. More details of the plot history and the concurrent multiyear study are found in Snider et al (2015), Abalos et al (2016), and Thompson et al (2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Greenhouse gas flux chambers (nonsteady state, nonflowthrough design) were installed at each sampling location. These were custom made from 44.2-cm (inner diameter) polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sewer pipe and had a volume »26 L. More design and installation details are found in Snider et al (2015). Chamber headspace samples (20 mL) were taken 0, 15, 30, and 60 min after deployment and injected into 12-mL Exetainer vials (Labco Ltd.) evacuated to 13 Pa or greater.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This isotopic separation (d 15 N-N 2 O − 15 N-NO 3 − ) exceeded the isotope effect for denitrification measured at our site (Table 3), so we concluded that denitrification produced very little N 2 O during the period after manure application. A site-specific isotope effect for denitrification was determined by Snider et al (2015), who conducted anaerobic incubations of soil from our study site to determine 15 N enrichment factors for denitrification that ranged from −23 to −18‰. The soils were incubated within hours of collection (i.e., not frozen or dried and rewet), thereby imposing the least possible disturbance to the soil microbial communities.…”

Section: Using D 15 N-nh 4 + Values To Quantify the Amount Of Manure-mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

2017

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Understanding the fate of applied nitrogen (N) in agricultural soils is important for agronomic, environmental, and human health reasons, but it is methodologically difficult to study at the field scale. Natural abundance stable isotope measurements (δN) were used in this field study with micrometeorological measurements of nitrous oxide (NO) emissions to identify the biogeochemical processes responsible for rapid N transformations immediately after application of liquid dairy manure. Fifteen samplings occurred between 16 Mar. 2012 and 5 Apr. 2013, with a focus on spring manure application (before and after) and a winter snowmelt period. Concentrations and δN values of ammonium (NH), nitrate (NO), NO, and total N were measured throughout the year. Approximately 56 (±7)% of the NH-N applied in the spring could not be accounted for 3 d after manure application and was presumably lost by ammonia volatilization before it was tilled into the soil and/or removed from the inorganic N pool by microbial assimilation. Almost all of the remaining manure-NH (95 ± 1.1%) was converted within 3 wk to NO and NO by nitrification and nitrifier-denitrification, respectively. The in situ N isotope effect for nitrification (ε) was calculated to be -32.0 (±5.3)‰. Overall, field-scale measurements of δN at natural abundance provided valuable information that was used to distinguish sources of NH (manure vs. soil organic N) and to follow the production and consumption of NO and the pathways of NO production in soil.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Determining E the 15 N/ 14 N Enrichment Factor For Nitrificmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Using D 15 N-nh 4 + Values To Quantify the Amount Of Manure-mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

2017

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Tracking nitrous oxide emission processes at a suburban site with semicontinuous, in situ measurements of isotopic composition

et al. 2017

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The isotopic composition of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) was measured semicontinuously, at ∼35 min frequency in intermittent periods of 1–6 days over one and a half years, using preconcentration coupled to a quantum cascade laser spectrometer at the suburban site of Dübendorf, Switzerland. The achieved measurement repeatability was 0.08‰, 0.11‰, and 0.10‰ for δ18O, site preference, and δ15Nbulk respectively, which is better than or equal to standard flask sampling‐based isotope ratio mass spectrometry performance. The observed mean diurnal cycle reflected the buildup of N2O from isotopically light sources on an isotopically heavy tropospheric background. The measurements were used to determine the source isotopic composition, which varied significantly compared to chemical and meteorological parameters monitored at the site. FLEXPART‐COSMO transport modeling in combination with modified Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research inventory emissions was used to model N2O mole fractions at the site. Additionally, isotopic signatures were estimated for different source categories using literature data and used to simulate N2O isotopic composition over the measurement period. The model was able to capture variability in N2O mole fraction well, but simulations of isotopic composition showed little agreement with observations. In particular, measured source isotopic composition exhibited one magnitude larger variability than simulated, clearly indicating that the range of isotopic source signatures estimated from literature significantly underestimates true variability of source signatures. Source δ18O signature was found to be the most sensitive tracer for urban/industry versus agricultural N2O. δ15Nbulk and site preference may provide more insight into microbial and chemical emission processes than partitioning of anthropogenic source categories.

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What can we learn from N₂O isotope data? – Analytics, processes and modelling

Harris

Lewicka‐Szczebak

et al. 2020

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

118

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The isotopic composition of nitrous oxide (N2O) provides useful information for evaluating N2O sources and budgets. Due to the co‐occurrence of multiple N2O transformation pathways, it is, however, challenging to use isotopic information to quantify the contribution of distinct processes across variable spatiotemporal scales. Here, we present an overview of recent progress in N2O isotopic studies and provide suggestions for future research, mainly focusing on: analytical techniques; production and consumption processes; and interpretation and modelling approaches. Comparing isotope‐ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) with laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS), we conclude that IRMS is a precise technique for laboratory analysis of N2O isotopes, while LAS is more suitable for in situ/inline studies and offers advantages for site‐specific analyses. When reviewing the link between the N2O isotopic composition and underlying mechanisms/processes, we find that, at the molecular scale, the specific enzymes and mechanisms involved determine isotopic fractionation effects. In contrast, at plot‐to‐global scales, mixing of N2O derived from different processes and their isotopic variability must be considered. We also find that dual isotope plots are effective for semi‐quantitative attribution of co‐occurring N2O production and reduction processes. More recently, process‐based N2O isotopic models have been developed for natural abundance and 15N‐tracing studies, and have been shown to be effective, particularly for data with adequate temporal resolution. Despite the significant progress made over the last decade, there is still great need and potential for future work, including development of analytical techniques, reference materials and inter‐laboratory comparisons, further exploration of N2O formation and destruction mechanisms, more observations across scales, and design and validation of interpretation and modelling approaches. Synthesizing all these efforts, we are confident that the N2O isotope community will continue to advance our understanding of N2O transformation processes in all spheres of the Earth, and in turn to gain improved constraints on regional and global budgets.

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Molecular techniques and stable isotope ratios at natural abundance give complementary inferences about N2O production pathways in an agricultural soil following a rainfall event

Cited by 58 publications

References 118 publications

Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

Tracking nitrous oxide emission processes at a suburban site with semicontinuous, in situ measurements of isotopic composition

What can we learn from N₂O isotope data? – Analytics, processes and modelling

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Molecular techniques and stable isotope ratios at natural abundance give complementary inferences about N2O production pathways in an agricultural soil following a rainfall event

Cited by 58 publications

References 118 publications

Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

Stable Isotopes Reveal Rapid Cycling of Soil Nitrogen after Manure Application

Tracking nitrous oxide emission processes at a suburban site with semicontinuous, in situ measurements of isotopic composition

What can we learn from N2O isotope data? – Analytics, processes and modelling

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What can we learn from N₂O isotope data? – Analytics, processes and modelling