We use cookies on our website. Some are necessary for the operation of the website. You can also allow cookies for statistical purposes. You can adjust the data protection settings or agree to all cookies directly.
Denitrification in Agricultural Soils: Integrated control and Modelling at various scales. Subproject 5: Processes determining nitrate dynamics in soil and the relationship to gaseous N production (DASIM)
Project
Project code: keine Angabe
Contract period: 01.06.2016
- 31.05.2019
Purpose of research: Basic research
Denitrification is a key transformation process, which returns reactive nitrogen (N) from soil back to the atmosphere as N2. In soils, spatially different sites exist, each with a different potential for denitrification and N transformation dynamics. However, the contribution of the different soil microsites to overall denitrification is only poorly understood. The contribution of hot spots (high activity spots for denitrification) will be evaluated in homogeneous (sieved) soils and intact soil cores. A method will be developed to relate the N dynamics and denitrification emissions in different soil volumes to the N dynamics of the entire soil. This method will then be applied to quantify the contribution of the hot spots to total denitrification in sieved and intact soils. To identify different pathways for N2O and N2 emissions, a range of isotope methods (dual 15N/18O labelling, 15N tracing and isotopomers) will be used and cross-validated. A new 15N tracing model will be developed that is able to relate the overall N dynamics to the N dynamics in various soil volumes. We expect, that the uncertainties associated with the various isotopic techniques can be substantially reduced if the soil heterogeneity is taken into account. The experiments will be carried out under controlled conditions and are closely linked to the other DASIM projects, providing data on gross N transformations and gaseous N dynamics which are used for validation and development of denitrification models.
Section overview
Subjects
- Soil science
- Process engineering
- Climate Change
Collaborative Project
FOR 2337: Denitrification in Agricultural Soils: Integrated Control and Modelling at Various Scales