Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Pages: 12745-12754

Journal: Environmental Science & Technology

Volume number: 56

Issue number: 17

ISSN: 0013-936X

eISSN: 1520-5851

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04378

Publisher: American Chemical Society

Abstract: 
The response of soil gross nitrogen (N) cycling to elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and temperature has been extensively studied in natural and semi-natural ecosystems. However, how these factors and their interaction affect soil gross N dynamics in agroecosystems, strongly disturbed by human activity, remains largely unknown. Here, a N-15 tracer study under aerobic incubation was conducted to quantify soil gross N transformation rates in a paddy field exposed to elevated CO2 and/or temperature for 9 years in a warming and free air CO2 enrichment experiment. Results show that long-term exposure to elevated CO2 significantly inhibited or tended to inhibit gross N mineralization at elevated and ambient temperatures, respectively. The inhibition of soil gross N mineralization by elevating CO2 was aggravated by warming in this paddy field. The inhibition of gross N mineralization under elevated CO2 could be due to decreased soil pH. Long-term exposure to elevated CO2 also significantly reduced gross autotrophic nitrification at ambient temperature, probably due to decreased soil pH and gross N mineralization. In contrast, none of the gross N transformation rates were affected by long-term exposure to warming alone. Our study provides strong evidence that long-term dual exposure to elevated CO2 and temperature has a greater negative effect on gross N mineralization rate than the single exposure, potentially resulting in progressive N limitation in this agroecosystem and ultimately increasing demand for N fertilizer.

Harvard Citation style: Tu, X., Wang, J., Liu, X., Elrys, A., Cheng, Y., Zhang, J., et al. (2022) Inhibition of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide to Soil Gross Nitrogen Mineralization Aggravated by Warming in an Agroecosystem, Environmental Science & Technology, 56(17), pp. 12745-12754. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04378

APA Citation style: Tu, X., Wang, J., Liu, X., Elrys, A., Cheng, Y., Zhang, J., Cai, Z., & Muller, C. (2022). Inhibition of Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide to Soil Gross Nitrogen Mineralization Aggravated by Warming in an Agroecosystem. Environmental Science & Technology. 56(17), 12745-12754. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c04378