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Temporal Stability of Spatial Patterns of Nitrous Oxide Fluxes from Sloping Grassland

NMI, Wageningen, currently Alterra, Wageningen Univ. and Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands;

J. W. van Groenigen

ITC Enschede, the Netherlands, currently Dep. of Agronomy and Range Science, Univ. of California, 1 Shield Ave., Davis, CA 95616;

G. Gebauer

Dep. of Plant Ecology, Univ. of Bayreuth, P.O. Box 95440, Bayreuth, Germany;

S. Pietrzak

IMUZ, Falenty, 05-090 Raszyn, Poland;

S. C. Jarvis

IGER, North Wyke Research Station, Okehampton EX20 2 SB, Devon, UK;

M. Pinto

SIMA, Berreaga No 1, Derio 48160 Bizkaia, Spain;

W. Corré

Plant Research International, Wageningen Univ. and Research, P.O. Box 14, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands;

O. Oenema

Alterra, Wageningen Univ. and Research, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands.

^* Corresponding author (g.l.velthof{at}alterra.wag-ur.nl).

ABSTRACT

Insight into the temporal and spatial variability of nitrous oxide (N₂O) fluxes from soils is required to set up efficient sampling protocols of N₂O fluxes and to set up strategies to reduce N₂O fluxes. The aim of the present study was to assess the temporal stability of the spatial pattern of N₂O fluxes along a transect (400 m) on a fertilized sloping grassland soil. Geostatistical analyses of flux chamber measurements over 4 d showed a clear spatial dependency of N₂O fluxes. The spatial variability of N₂O fluxes was much higher than the temporal variability during the 4 d. Despite the decreasing magnitude of the fluxes in time, the spatial pattern persisted during 4 d, that is, fluxes were always highest at the steepest part of the transect. The ¹⁵N natural abundance (¹⁵N) in soil N was significantly correlated with N₂O fluxes, indicating a long-term effect of N loss as N₂O on the ¹⁵N abundance in the soil. It was suggested that topography played a role in the observed spatial patterns of N₂O fluxes and ¹⁵N in soil N. The study showed that despite the persistent spatial pattern of N₂O fluxes, flux magnitude may strongly fluctuate in time. Therefore, it is often not possible to combine N₂O flux measurements made at different times in order to obtain enough data for geostatistical analysis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J.-W. van Groenigen and C. van Kessel Salinity-induced Patterns of Natural Abundance Carbon-13 and Nitrogen-15 in Plant and Soil Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., March 1, 2002; 66(2): 489 - 498. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]