Do NO, NO, N and CO fluxes differ in soils sourced from cropland and varying riparian buffer vegetation? An incubation study.

Riparian buffers are expedient interventions for water quality functions in agricultural landscapes. However, the choice of vegetation and management affects soil microbial communities, which in turn affect nutrient cycling and the production and emission of gases such as nitric oxide (NO), nitrous oxide (NO), nitrogen gas (N) and carbon dioxide (CO). To investigate the potential fluxes of the above-mentioned gases, soil samples were collected from a cropland and downslope grass, willow and woodland riparian buffers from a replicated plot scale experimental facility.

CO fluxes from three different temperate grazed pastures using Eddy covariance measurements.

Grasslands cover around 25% of the global ice-free land surface, they are used predominantly for forage and livestock production and are considered to contribute significantly to soil carbon (C) sequestration. Recent investigations into using 'nature-based solutions' to limit warming to <2 °C suggest up to 25% of GHG mitigation might be achieved through changes to grassland management. In this study we evaluate pasture management interventions at the Rothamsted Research North Wyke Farm Platform, under commercial farming conditions, over two years and consider their impacts on net CO exchange.

Optimising storage conditions and processing of sheep urine for nitrogen cycle and gaseous emission measurements from urine patches.

In grazing systems, urine patches deposited by livestock are hotspots of nutrient cycling and the most important source of nitrous oxide (NO) emissions. Studies of the effects of urine deposition, including, for example, the determination of country-specific NO emission factors, require natural urine for use in experiments and face challenges obtaining urine of the same composition, but of differing concentrations. Yet, few studies have explored the importance of storage conditions and processing of ruminant urine for use in subsequent gaseous emission experiments.

Improved isotopic model based on N tracing and Rayleigh-type isotope fractionation for simulating differential sources of N O emissions in a clay grassland soil.

Rationale: Isotopic signatures of N O can help distinguish between two sources (fertiliser N or endogenous soil N) of N O emissions. The contribution of each source to N O emissions after N-application is difficult to determine. Here, isotopologue signatures of emitted N O are used in an improved isotopic model based on Rayleigh-type equations.

"Hot spots" of N and C impact nitric oxide, nitrous oxide and nitrogen gas emissions from a UK grassland soil.

Agricultural soils are a major source of nitric- (NO) and nitrous oxide (NO), which are produced and consumed by biotic and abiotic soil processes. The dominant sources of NO and NO are microbial nitrification and denitrification, and emissions of NO and NO generally increase after fertiliser application. The present study investigated the impact of N-source distribution on emissions of NO and NO from soil and the significance of denitrification, rather than nitrification, as a source of NO emissions.