This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Martikainen, P. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Martikainen, P. J. Agricola Articles by Martikainen, P. J.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1985 December; 50(6): 1519-1525
Copyright © 1985, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Nitrous Oxide Emission Associated with Autotrophic Ammonium Oxidation in Acid Coniferous Forest Soil

Department of General Microbiology, University of Helsinki, SF-00280 Helsinki 28, Finland

ABSTRACT

Aerobic N₂O production was studied in nitrifying humus from urea-fertilized pine forest soil. Acetylene and nitrapyrin inhibited both NH₄⁺ oxidation and N₂O production, indicating that N₂O production was closely associated with autotrophic NH₄⁺ oxidation. N₂O production was enhanced by low soil pH; it was negligible above pH 4.7. When soil pH decreased from 4.7 to 4.1, the relative amount of N₂O-N produced from NH₄⁺-N oxidized increased exponentially to 20%. There was also some evidence that N₂O formation was stimulated by salts (potassium sulfate and sodium phosphates). The maximum rate of N₂O-N production was 0.17 µg of N₂O-N per g of soil per h. When humus was treated with NO₂^–, N₂O evolved immediately, indicating chemical formation, but no N₂O was formed on the addition of NO₃^–. The amount of N₂O-N evolved was 0.6 to 4.6% of NO₂^–-N added. A high concentration of NO₂^– and low soil pH enhanced chemical production of N₂O. There was no accumulation of NO₂^– during nitrification. The calculations indicated that chemical formation of N₂O was not the main source of N₂O during NH₄⁺ oxidation. After the addition of inhibitors of NH₄⁺ oxidation the soils contained NO₃^–, but no N₂O was produced. The results suggest that enhanced autotrophic NH₄⁺ oxidation is a potential source of N₂O in fertilized acid forest soil.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Pedersen, A. R., Petersen, S. O., Vinther, F. P. (2001). Stochastic Diffusion Model for Estimating Trace Gas Emissions with Static Chambers. Soil Sci. 65: 49-58 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Jiang, Q.-Q., Bakken, L. R. (1999). Nitrous Oxide Production and Methane Oxidation by Different Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65: 2679-2684 [Abstract] [Full Text]