Microbial nitrous oxide emissions in dryland ecosystems: mechanisms, microbiome and mitigation

Abstract

Globally, drylands represent the largest terrestrial biome and are projected to expand by 23% by the end of this century. Drylands are characterized by extremely low levels of water and nutrients and exhibit highly heterogeneous distribution in plants and biocrusts which make microbial processes shaping the dryland functioning rather unique compared with other terrestrial ecosystems. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a powerful greenhouse gas with ozone depletion potential. Despite of the pivotal influences of microbial communities on the production and consumption of N2O, we have limited knowledge of the biological pathways and mechanisms underpinning N2O emissions from drylands, which are estimated t..