B33C-0701
Greenhouse Gas Fluxes from Forested Wetland and Upland Soils

Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Kathleen E Savage, Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA, United States and Eric A Davidson, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory, Frostburg, MD, United States
Abstract:
Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) are the most important greenhouse gases. Soils are the dominant natural source of N2O, and have been shown to be a small sink under N-limited conditions. Wetlands are a significant natural source of CH4, and dry upland soils a natural CH4 sink. Soils release CO2 produced by both autotrophic (root) and heterotrophic (microbial) respiration processes. Variation in soil moisture can be very dynamic, and it is one of the dominant factors controlling soil aeration, and hence the balance between aerobic (predominantly CO2 producing) and anaerobic (both CO2 and CH4 producing) respiration. The production and consumption of N2O is also highly dependent on spatial and temporal variation in soil moisture. Howland forest, ME is a mosaic of well drained upland, wetland and small transitional upland/wetland soils which makes for a unique and challenging environment to measure the effects of soil moisture on the net exchange of these important greenhouse gases.

To quantify the flux of CO2, CH4 and N2O from the Howland forest soils, we utilized a previously developed automated chamber system for measuring CO2 efflux (Licor 6252 IRGA) from soils, and configured it to run in-line with a new model quantum cascade laser (QCL) system which measures N2O and CH(Aerodyne model QC-TILDAS-CS). This system allowed for simultaneous, high frequency, continuous measurement of all three greenhouse gases. Fourteen sampling chambers were deployed in an upland soil (8), nearby wetland (3) and a transitional upland/wetland (3). Each chamber was measured every 90 minutes. Upland soils were consistent sources of CO2 and sinks for CH4, however the N2O fluxes were transient between sources and sinks. The wetland soils were consistent sources of high CH4 emissions, low CO2 emissions and a consistently small N2O sink. The transitional upland/wetland soil was a consistent source of CO2 but was much more transient between CH4 and N2O sources and sinks. High frequency CO2, CH4 and N2O flux measurements were used to estimate seasonal flux sums, and the flux estimates from each soil drainage class were then applied to a GIS-based soil map to create a spatially representative estimate of net flux at the landscape scale.