Abstract
Plant community structure is expected to regulate the microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification by controlling the availability of inorganic N substrates. Thus it could also be a factor in the concomitant release of NO and N2O from soils as a result of these processes. C3 and C4 plants differ in several attributes related to the cycling of nitrogen and were hypothesized to yield differences in trace gas exchange between soil and atmosphere. In this study we estimated fluxes of NO, N2O and CH4 from soils of shortgrass steppe communities dominated by either C3 plants, C4 plants or mixtures of the two types. We collected gas samples weekly from two sites, a sandy clay loam and a clay, throughout the growing seasons of 1995 and 1996. Plant functional type effects on gas fluxes at the clay site were not apparent, however we found several differences among plant communities on the sandy clay loam. CH4 uptake from atmosphere to soil was significantly greater on C4 plots than C3 plots in both years. NO fluxes were significantly greater from C4 plots than from C3 plots in 1995. NO fluxes from C3 and mixed plots were not significantly different between 1995 and 1996, however fluxes from C4 plots were significantly greater in 1995 compared to 1996. Results indicate that under certain environmental conditions, particularly when factors such as moisture and temperature are not limiting, plant community composition can play an important role in regulating trace gas exchange.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bèdard C & Knowles R (1989) Physiology, biochemistry, and specific inhibitors of CH4, NH +4 , and CO oxidation by methanotrophs and nitrifiers. Microbiol. Rev. 53: 68-84
Binkley D (1994) The influence of tree species on forest soils—processes and patterns. In: Mead D & Wills G (Eds) Trees and Soil Workshop Proceedings (pp 1-23). Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Biörkman O, Mooney HA & Ehleringer JR (1975) Photosynthetic responses of plants from habitats with contrasting thermal environments. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Year Book 74: 743-748
Bronson KF & Mosier AR (1993) Nitrous oxide emissions and methane consumption in wheat and corn-cropped systems in northeastern Colorado. In: Harper LA, Mosier AR, Duxbury JM & Rolston DE (Eds) Agricultural Ecosystem Effects on Trace Gases and Global Climate Change (pp 133-144). ASA Spec. Publ. no. 55, ASA, CSSA, SSSA, Madison, WI
Bronson KF & Mosier AR (1994) Suppression of methane oxidation in aerobic soil by nitrogen fertilizers, nitrification inhibitors, and urease inhibitors. Biol. Fertil. Soils 17: 263-268
Brown RH (1978) A difference in N use efficiency in C3and C4plants and its implications in adaptation and evolution. Crop Sci. 18: 93-98
Caldwell MM, White RS, Moore RT & Camp LB (1977) Carbon balance, productivity, and water use of cold-winter desert shrub communities dominated by C3and C4species. Oecologia 29: 275-300
Cook CW, Child RD & Larson LL (1977) Digestible Protein in Range Forages as an Index to Nutrient Content and Animal Response: A Systems Approach to Range Livestock Production. Colorado State University, Range Science Department, Science Series No. 29
Corre MD, van Kessel C, Pennock DJ & Solohub MP (1995) Ambient nitrous oxide emissions from different landform complexes as affected by simulated rainfall. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 26: 2279-2293
Crutzen PJ (1970) The influence of nitrogen oxides on the atmospheric ozone content. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 96: 320-325
Davidson EA, Matson PA, Vitousek PM, Riley R, Dunkin K, García-Méndez G & Maass JM (1993) Processes regulating soil emissions fo NO and N2O in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Ecology 74: 130-139
Dunfield PF, Topp E, Archambault C & Knowles R (1995) Effect of nitrogen fertilizers and moisture content on CH4and N2O fluxes in a humisol: Measurements in the field and intact soil cores. Biogeochemistry 29: 199-222
Duxbury JM, Harper LA & Mosier AR (1993) Contributions of agroecosystems to global climate change. In: Harper LA, Mosier AR, Duxbury JM & Rolston DE (Eds) Agricultural Ecosystem Effects on Trace Gases and Global Climate Change (pp 1-18). ASA Spec. Publ. No. 55, ASA, CSSA, SSSA, Madison, WI
Epstein HE, Burke IC & Mosier AR (1997a) Plant effects on spatial and temporal patterns of N cycling in shortgrass steppc. Suppl. Bull. Ecol. Soc. Am. 78(3)
Epstein HE, Lauenroth WK, Burke IC & Coffin DP (1997b) Productivity patterns of C3and C4functional types in the Great Plains of the U.S. Ecology 78: 722-731
Ewel JJ, Mazzarino MJ & Berish CW (1991) Tropical soil fertility changes under monocultures and successional communities of different structure. Ecol. Appl. 1: 289-302
Field C & Mooney HA (1986) The photosynthesis-nitrogen relationship in wild plants. In: Givnish TJ (Ed) On the Economy of Plant Form and Function (pp 25-55). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Firestone MK & Davidson EA (1989) Microbiological basis of NO and N2O production and consumption in soil. In: Andraea MO & Schimel DS (Eds) Exchange of Trace Gases Between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere (pp 7-21). John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Franklin JF, Bledsoe CS & Callahan JT (1990) Contributions of the long-term ecological research program. Bioscience 40: 509-523
Garnier E, Gobin O & Poorter H (1995) Nitrogen productivity depends on photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency and on nitrogen allocation within the plant. Annals of Botany 76: 667-672
Graedel RE & Crutzen PJ (1989) The Changing Atmosphere. Scientific American, September 1989, pp 58-79
Haider K, Mosier A & Heinemeyer O (1987) The effect of growing plants on denitrification at high soil nitrate concentrations. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 51: 97-102
Hantschel RE, Kamp T & Beese F (1995) Increasing the soil temperature to study global warming effects on the soil nitrogen cycle in agroecosystems. J. Biogeogr. 22: 375-380
Haynes RJ (1986) Nitrification. In: Haynes RJ (Ed) Mineral Nitrogen in the Plant-Soil System (pp 127-165). Academic, New York
Hobbie SE (1992) Effects of plant species on nutrient cycling. Trends Ecol. Evol. 7: 336-339
Hobbie SE (1996) Temperature and plant species control over litter decomposition in Alaskan tundra. Ecol. Monogr. 66: 503-522
Hooper DU & Vitousek PM (1997) The effects of plant composition and diversity on ecosystem processes. Science 277: 1302-1305
Huisman J, Olff H & Fresco LFM (1993) A hierarchical set of models for species response analysis. J. Veg. Sci. 4: 37-46
Hunt HW, Elliott ET, Detling JK, Morgan JA & Chen DX (1996) Response of a C3and a C4perennial grass to elevated CO2and temperature under different water regimes. Global Change Biol. 2: 35-47
Hutchinson GL & Mosier AR (1981) Improved soil cover method for field measurement of nitrous oxide fluxes. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 45: 311-316
Hütsch BW, Webster CP & Powlson DS (1993) Long-term effects of nitrogen fertilization on methane oxidation in soil of the Broadbalk wheat experiments. Soil Biol. Biochem. 25: 1307-1315
Jackson LE, Schimel JP & Firestone MK (1989) Short-term partitioning of ammonium and nitrate between plants and microbes in an annual grassland. Soil Biol. Biochem. 21: 409-415
Janssen BH (1996) Nitrogen mineralization in relation to C:N ratio and decomposability of organic materials. Plant and Soil 181: 39-45
Jenkinson DS (1977) Studies on the decomposition of plant material in soil. V. The effects of plant cover and soil type on the loss of carbon from 14C-labelled rye grass decomposing under field conditions. J. Soil Sci. 28: 424-494
Jones CG & Lawton JH (1995) Linking Species and Ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, Inc., New York, NY
Kemp PR & Williams III GJ (1980) A physiological basis for niche separation between Agropyron smithii(C3) and Bouteloua gracilis(C4). Ecology 6: 846-858
Lauenroth WK & Milchunas DG (1992) Shortgrass steppe. In: Coupland RT (Ed) Ecosystems of the World, Vol. 8A. Natural Grasslands (pp 183-226). Elsevier, New York
Lauenroth WK & Sala OE (1992) Long term forage production of North American shortgrass steppe. Ecol. Appl. 2: 397-403
Lidstrom ME & Stirling DI (1990) Methylotrophs: Genetic and commercial applications. Ann. Rev. Microbiol. 44: 27-58
Linn DM & Doran JW (1984) Effect of water-filled pore space on carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide production in tilled and non-tilled soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 48: 1267-1272
Logan JA (1983) Nitrogen oxides in the troposphere: Global and regional budgets. J. Geophys. Res. 88: 10,785-10,807
Mellilo JM, Aber JD & Muratore JF (1982) Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63: 621-626
Monreal CM, McGill WB & Etchevers JD (1981) Internal nitrogen cycling compared in surface samples of an Andept and a Mollisol. Soil Biol. Biochem. 13: 451-454
Monson RK, Littlejohn Jr. RO & Williams III GJ (1983) Photosynthetic adaptation to temperature in four species from the Colorado shortgrass steppe: A physiological model for coexistence. Oecologia 58: 43-51
Monson RK, Sackschewsky MR & Williams III GJ (1986) Field measurements of photosynthesis, water-use efficiency, and growth in Agropyron smithii(C3) and Bouteloua gracilis(C4) in the Colorado shortgrass steppe. Oecologia 68: 400-409
Mooney HA, Vitousek PM & Matson PA (1987) Exchange of materials between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere. Science 238: 926-932
Mosier AR, Guenzi WD & Schweizer EE (1986) Soil losses of dinitrogen and nitrous oxide from irrigated crops in northeastern Colorado. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 50: 344-348
Mosier AR & Hutchinson GL (1981) Nitrous oxide emissions from cropped fields. J. Environ. Qual. 10: 169-173
Mosier AR & Mack L (1980) Gas chromatographic system for precise, rapid analysis of nitrous oxide. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 44: 1121-1123
Mosier A, Schimel D, Valentine D, Bronson K & Parton W (1991) Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in native, fertilized and cultivated grasslands. Nature 350: 330-332
Mosier AR, Parton WJ, Valentine DW, Ojima DS, Schimel DS & Delgado JA (1996) CH4and N2O fluxes in the Colorado shortgrass steppe: 1. Impact of landscape and nitrogen addition. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 10: 387-399
Odum EP (1969) The strategy of ecosystem development. Science 164: 262-270
Ojima DS, Valentine DW, Mosier AR, Parton WJ & Schimel DS (1993) Effect of land use change on methane oxidation in temperate forest and grassland soils. Chemosphere. 26: 675-685
Parton WJ, Mosier AR & Schimel DS (1988) Rates and pathways of nitrous oxide production in a shortgrass steppe. Biogeochemistry 6: 45-58
Pastor J, Aber JD, McClaugherty CA & Melillo JM (1984) Aboveground production and N and P cycling along a nitrogen mineralization gradient on Blackhawk Island, Wisconsin. Ecology 65: 256-268
Pearcy RW & Ehleringer J (1984) Comparative ecophysiology of C3and C4plants. Plant Cell Environ. 7: 1-13
Peterjohn WT, Melillo JM, Steudler PA, Newkirk KM, Bowles FP & Aber JD (1994) Responses of trace gas fluxes and N availability to experimentally elevated soil temperatures. Ecol. Appl. 4: 617-625
Robertson GP (1989) Nitrification and denitrification in humid tropical ecosystems: Potential controls on nitrogen retention. In: Procter J (Ed) Mineral Nutrients in Tropical Forest and Savanna Ecosystems (pp 55-59). Blackwell Scientific, Boston, MA
Rodhe H (1990) A comparison of the contribution of various gases to the greenhouse effect. Science 248: 1217-1219
Sala OE, Lauenroth WK & Parton WJ (1992) Long-term soil water dynamics in the shortgrass steppe. Ecology 73: 1175-1181
SAS (Statistical Analysis System) (1991) SAS/STAT Users Guide, Version 6.04, Third Edition. SAS Institue, Cary, NC
Schiff HK, Mackay GI, Castledine C, Harris GW & Tran Q (1986) Atmospheric measurements of nitrogen with a sensitive luminol instrument. Water Air Soil Pollut. 30: 105-114
Schimel DS (1988) Calculation of microbial growth efficiency from 15N immobilization. Biogeochemistry 6: 239-243
Schimel DS & Parton WJ (1986) Microclimatic controls of nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in shortgrass steppe soils. Plant Soil 93: 347-357
Schimel D, Stillwell MA & Woodmansee RG (1985) Biogeochemistry of C, N, and P in a soil catena of the shortgrass steppe. Ecology 66: 276-282
Schlesinger WH (1991) Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA
Tieszen LL (1970) Photosynthetic properties of some grasses in eastern South Dakota. Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science 49: 78-89
Tiedje JM (1988) Ecology of denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. In: Zehnder JB (Ed) Biology of Anaerobic Microorganisms (pp 179-244). Wiley, New York
Tilman D, Knops J, Wedin D, Reich P, Ritchie M & Siemann E (1997) The influence of functional diversity and composition on ecosystem processes. Science 277: 1300-1302
Tilman D, Wedin D & Knops J (1996) Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems. Nature 379: 718-720
Torn MS & Harte J (1996) Methane comsumption by montane soils: Implications for positive and negative feedback with climatic change. Biogeochemistry 32: 53-67
Verhagen FJM, Laanbroek HJ & Woldendorp JW (1995) Competition for ammonium between plant roots and nitrifying and heterotrophic bacteria and the effects of protozoan grazing. Plant Soil 170: 241-250
Vitousek PM, Walker LR, Whiteaker LD, Mueller-Dombois D & Matson PA (1987) Biological invasion by Myrica fayaalters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238: 802-804
Wedin DA (1995) Species, nitrogen, and grassland dynamics: The constraints of stuff. In: Jones CW & Lawton JH (Eds) Linking Species and Ecosystems (pp 253-262). Chapman and Hall, Inc., New York, NY
Wedin DA & Pastor J (1993) Nitrogen mineralization dynamics in grass monocultures. Oecologia 96: 186-192
Wedin DA & Tilman (1990) Species effects on nitrogen cycling: A test with perennial grasses. Oecologia 84: 433-441
Wendel GJ, Stedman DH & Cantrell CA (1983) Luminol-based nitrogen dioxide detector. Anal. Chem. 55: 937-940
Whittenbury R, Phillips KC & Wilkinson JF (1970) Enrichment, isolation and some properties of methane-utilizing bacteria. J. Gen. Microbiol. 61: 205-218
Williams EJ & Fehsenfeld FC (1991) Measurement of soil nitrogen oxide emissions at three North American ecosystems. J. Geophys. Res. 96: 1033-1042
Williams EJ, Hutchinson GL & Fehsenfeld FC (1992) NOxand N2O emissions from soils. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 6: 351-388
Woldendorp JW (1962) The quantitative influence of the rhizosphere on denitrification. Plant Soil 17: 267-270
Yamulki S, Goulding KWT, Webster CP & Harrison RM (1995) Studies on NO and N2O fluxes from a wheat field. Atmos. Environm. 29: 1627-1635
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Epstein, H.E., Burke, I.C., Mosier, A.R. et al. Plant Functional Type Effects on Trace Gas Fluxes in the Shortgrass Steppe. Biogeochemistry 42, 145–168 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005959001235
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005959001235