The effect of temperature and moisture on the source of N2O and contributions from ammonia oxidizers in an agricultural soil

Abstract

In recent years, identification of the microbial sources responsible for soil N2O production has substantially advanced with the development of isotope enrichment techniques, selective inhibitors, mathematical models and the discoveries of specific N-cycling functional genes. However, little information is available to effectively quantify the N2O produced from different microbial pathways (e.g. nitrification and denitrification). Here, a 15N-tracing incubation experiment was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions (50, 70 and 85% water-filled pore space (WFPS) at 25 and 35 °C). Nitrification was the main contributor to N2O production. At 50, 70 and 85% WFPS, nitrification contribut..