Nitrous oxide emissions from Norway spruce forests on drained organic and mineral soil

Abstract

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from drained organic (Histosol) and mineral (Umbrisol) soils having a 60 year old Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forest in a catchment in southwest Sweden were measured using static closed chambers every other week over 3 years (August 2010 – July 2013). High emissions were observed during the summer months for both sites, which were significantly higher for the drained organic soils compared to the mineral soils: average emissions of 49.0 ± 3.3 and 8.0 ± 3.3 μg N2O·m−2·h−1, respectively. As the experiment was designed to have similar forest and weather conditions for both sites, these were omitted as explanatory factors for the emission difference. Initially, the soil organic matter concentration (percent by mass) difference was thought to be the cause. However, the results found that the soil organic matter amount per square metre of top soil was similar at both sites, suggesting other possible explanations. We propose that the most plausible explanation is that higher tree growth and mycorrhizal nitrogen demand reduce nitrogen availability contributing to the lower N2O emissions from the mineral soil site.