Impact of climate change on soil nitric oxide and nitrous oxide emissions from typical land uses in Scotland

Soil emissions of NO and N 2 O from typical land uses across Lowland and Highland Scotland were simulated under climate change conditions, during a short-term laboratory study. All locations investigated were significant sources of N 2 O (range: 157–277 μ g N 2 O–N m −2 h −1 ) and low-to-moderate sources of NO emissions (range: 0.4–30.5 μ g NO–N m −2 h −1 ), with a general tendency to decrease with altitude and increase with fertiliser and atmospheric N inputs. Simulated climate warming and extreme events (drought, intensive rainfall) increased soil NO pulses and N 2 O emissions from both natural and managed ecosystems in the following order: natural Highlands < natural Lowlands < grazed grasslands < natural moorland receiving high NH 3 deposition rates. Largest NO emission rates were observed from natural moorlands exposed to high NH 3 deposition rates. Although soil NO emissions were much smaller (6–660 times) than those of N 2 O, their impact on air quality is likely to increase as combustion sources of NO x are declining as a result of successful mitigation. This study provides evidence of high N emission rates from natural ecosystems and calls for urgent action to improve existing national and intergovernmental inventories for NO and N 2 O, which at present do not fully account for emissions from natural soils receiving no direct anthropogenic N inputs

Altitude (triangle · Atmospheric sciences · Climate change · Deposition (geology · Ecosystem · Greenhouse gas · Hydrology (agriculture · Moorland · Nitrous oxide · Soil water · Environmental Science · Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology · Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics · Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics · Ecology · Soil Science

• Focus on reactive nitrogen and the UN sustainable development goals

  Open Access•Wilfried Winiwarter, Barbara Amon et al.•Environmental Research Letters•2022

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