Abstract
The deposition of atmospheric N to soils provides sources of available N to the nitrifying and denitrifying microbial community and subsequently influences the rate of NO and N2O emissions from soil. We have investigated the influence of three different sources of enhanced N deposition on NO and N2O emissions 1) elevated NH3 deposition to woodlands downwind of poultry and pig farms, 2) increased wet cloud and occult N deposition to upland forest and moorland and 3) enhanced N deposition to trees as NO−3 and NH+4 aerosol. Flux measurements of NO and N2O were made using static chambers in the field or intact and repacked soil cores in the laboratory and determination of N2O by gas chromatography and of NO by chemiluminescence analysis. Rates of N deposition to our study sites were derived from modelled estimates of N deposition, NH3 concentrations measured by passive diffusion and inference from measurements of the 210Pb inventory of soils under tree canopies compared with open grassland. NO and N2O emissions and KCl-extractable soil NH+4 and NO−3 concentrations all increased with increasing N deposition rate. The extent of increase did not appear to be influenced by the chemical form of the N deposited. Systems dominated by dry-deposited NH3 downwind of intensive livestock farms or wet-deposited NH+4and NO−3 in the upland regions of Britain resulted in approximately the same linear response. Emissions of NO and N2O from these soils increased with both N deposition and KCl extractable NH+4, but the relationship between NH+4 and N deposition (ln NH+4 = 0.62 ln Ndeposition+0.21, r2 = 0.33, n = 43) was more robust than the relationship between N deposition and soil NO and N2O fluxes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Crossley, A., Sheppard, L. J., Harvey, F. J., Cape, J. N., Skiba, U., Ingleby, K., Fowler, D. and Coward, P.: 2001, Quantifying the effects of atmospheric inputs on N, S, and acidity to a 10-year-old Sitka spruce plantation in Southern Scotland: Phase Two 1998–2001, Final Report to DEFRA, Project EPG-Umbrella, 47 pp.
Dick, J., Skiba, U. and Wilson, J.: 2001, ‘The effect of rainfall on NO and N2O emissions from Ugandan agroforest soils’, Phyton A 41, 73–80.
Fowler, D., Cape, J. N. and Unsworth, M. H.: 1989, ‘Deposition of atmospheric pollutants on forests’, Phil. Trans. Soc. Lond. B324, 247–265.
Fowler, D.: 2001, Transboundary Air Pollution: Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone in the UK, Report to DEFRA by the National Expert Group on Transboundary Air Pollution (NEGTAP), CEH Edinburgh.
Fowler, D., Skiba, U., Nemitz, E., Choubedar, F., Branford, D., Donovan, R. and Rowland, P.: 2004, ‘Measuring aerosol and heavy metal deposition on urban woodland and grass using inventories of 210Pb and metal concentrations in soil’, Water, Air Soil Pollut.: Focus 4, 483–499.
Houghton, J. T., Meira Filho, L. G., Lim, B., Treanton, K., Mamaty, I., Bonduki, Y.: 2001, in D. J. Griggs and B. A. Callender (eds), Revised 1996 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Reference Manual, Vol. 3, IPCC/OECD/IEAUK Meteorological Office, Bracknell.
MacDonald, J. A., Skiba, U., Sheppard, L. J., Ball, B., Roberts, J. D., Smith, K. A. and Fowler, D.: 1997, ‘The effect of nitrogen deposition and seasonal variability on methane oxidation and nitrous oxide emission rates in an upland spruce plantation’, Atmos. Environ. 31, 3693–3706.
MacDonald, J. A.: 1998, Methane Oxidation in Temperate and Tropical Soils, PhD Thesis, University of Edinburgh.
Pitcairn, C. E. R., Leith, I. D., Fowler, D., Hargreaves, K. J., Moghaddam, M., Kennedy, V. H. and Granat, L.: 2001, ‘Foliar nitrogen as indicator of nitrogen deposition and critical loads exceedance on a European scale’, Water Air Soil Pollut. 130, 1037–1042.
Pitcairn, C. E. R., Leith, I. D., Sheppard, L. J., Sutton, M. A., Fowler, D., Munro, R. C., Tang, S. and Wilson, D.: 1998, ‘The relationship between nitrogen deposition, species composition and foliar nitrogen concentrations in woodland flora in the vicinity of livestock farms’, Environ Pollut. 102(S1), 41–48.
Sheppard, L. J., Crossley, A., Cape, J. N., Harvey, F., Parrington, L. and White, C.: 1999, ‘Early effects of acid mist on Sitka spruce planted on acid peat’, Phyton 39, 1–25.
Skiba, U., Sheppard, L. J., Pitcairn, C. E. R, Leith, I., Crossley, A., van Dijk, S., Kennedy, V. H. and Fowler, D.: 1998, ‘Soil nitrous oxide and nitric oxide emissions as indicators of elevated atmospheric N deposition rates in seminatural ecosystems’, Environ. Pollut. 102, 457–461.
Sutton, M. A., Milford, C., Dragosits, U. et al..: 1998, ‘Dispersion, deposition and impacts of atmospheric ammonia: Quantifying local budgets and spatial variability’, Environ. Pollut. 102(S1), 349–361.
Webb, J., Sutton, M. A., Kroeze, C., Skiba, U., Winiwater, W., Pain, B., Bonazzi, G., Svedinger, I. and Simpson, D.: 1998, ‘Cultures without fertilizers (unfertilized agricultural land)’, in Emission Inventory Guidebook, Report of the Expert Panel on Agricultural Emissions, pp. 1020-1–1020-21, TFEI, CORINAIR/EEA, Copenhagen.
Williams, E. J., Hutchinson, G. L. and Fehsenfeld, F.: 1992, ‘NOx and N2O emissions from soil’, Global Biogeochem. Cycles 6, 351–388.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Skiba, U., Pitcairn, C., Sheppard, L. et al. The Influence of Atmospheric N Deposition on Nitrous Oxide and Nitric Oxide Fluxes and Soil Ammonium and Nitrate Concentrations. Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus 4, 37–43 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-004-3011-7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-004-3011-7