In:
Nature Communications, Springer Science and Business Media LLC, Vol. 8, No. 1 ( 2017-06-05)
Abstract:
Although increasing atmospheric nitrous oxide (N 2 O) has been linked to nitrogen loading, predicting emissions remains difficult, in part due to challenges in disentangling diverse N 2 O production pathways. As coastal ecosystems are especially impacted by elevated nitrogen, we investigated controls on N 2 O production mechanisms in intertidal sediments using novel isotopic approaches and microsensors in flow-through incubations. Here we show that during incubations with elevated nitrate, increased N 2 O fluxes are not mediated by direct bacterial activity, but instead are largely catalysed by fungal denitrification and/or abiotic reactions (e.g., chemodenitrification). Results of these incubations shed new light on nitrogen cycling complexity and possible factors underlying variability of N 2 O fluxes, driven in part by fungal respiration and/or iron redox cycling. As both processes exhibit N 2 O yields typically far greater than direct bacterial production, these results emphasize their possibly substantial, yet widely overlooked, role in N 2 O fluxes, especially in redox-dynamic sediments of coastal ecosystems.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2041-1723
Language:
English
Publisher:
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Publication Date:
2017
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2553671-0
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