A review of stable isotope techniques for N2O source partitioning in soils: recent progress, remaining challenges and future considerations
- 25 April 2008
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
- Vol. 22 (11), 1664-1672
- https://doi.org/10.1002/rcm.3456
Abstract
Nitrous oxide is produced in soil during several processes, which may occur simultaneously within different micro‐sites of the same soil. Stable isotope techniques have a crucial role to play in the attribution of N2O emissions to different microbial processes, through estimation (natural abundance, site preference) or quantification (enrichment) of processes based on the 15N and 18O signatures of N2O determined by isotope ratio mass spectrometry. These approaches have the potential to become even more powerful when linked with recent developments in secondary isotope mass spectrometry, with microbial ecology, and with modelling approaches, enabling sources of N2O to be considered at a wide range of scales and related to the underlying microbiology. Such source partitioning of N2O is inherently challenging, but is vital to close the N2O budget and to better understand controls on the different processes, with a view to developing appropriate management practices for mitigation of N2O. In this respect, it is essential that as many of the contributing processes as possible are considered in any study aimed at source attribution, as mitigation strategies for one process may not be appropriate for another. To aid such an approach, here the current state of the art is critically examined, remaining challenges are highlighted, and recommendations are made for future direction. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords
This publication has 88 references indexed in Scilit:
- Insights into the fate of a 13C labelled phenol pulse for stable isotope probing (SIP) experimentsJournal of Microbiological Methods, 2007
- Stable isotope discrimination during soil denitrification: Production and consumption of nitrous oxideGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 2006
- Nitrosospira spp. can produce nitrous oxide via a nitrifier denitrification pathwayEnvironmental Microbiology, 2005
- The emerging molecular structure of the nitrogen cycle: an introduction to the proceedings of the 10th annual N-cycle meetingBiochemical Society Transactions, 2005
- Gas chromatography/isotope‐ratio mass spectrometry method for high‐precision position‐dependent15N and18O measurements of atmospheric nitrous oxideRapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2003
- Shifts in the dominant populations of ammonia-oxidizing b-subclass Proteobacteria along the eutrophic Schelde estuaryAquatic Microbial Ecology, 2001
- General model for N2O and N2 gas emissions from soils due to dentrificationGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 2000
- Isotopic variability of N2O emissions from tropical forest soilsGlobal Biogeochemical Cycles, 2000
- N2, N2O and O2Profiles in a Tagus Estuary Salt MarshEstuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 1999
- The distribution of denitrifying bacteria in soils monitored by DNA-probingFEMS Microbiology Letters, 1992