Low N2O and variable CH4 fluxes from tropical forest soils of the Congo Basin

Barthel, M.;Bauters, M.;Baumgartner, S.;Drake, T.W.;Six, J.;et.al.
(2022) Nature Communications — Vol. 13, n° 1, p. 8 (2022)

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Authors
  • Barthel, M.Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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  • Bauters, M.Isotope Bioscience Laboratory, Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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  • Baumgartner, S.Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
    Author
  • Drake, T.W.Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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  • Van Oost, KristofUCLouvain
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  • Six, J.Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
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  • et. al.
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Abstract
Globally, tropical forests are assumed to be an important source of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) and sink for methane (CH4). Yet, although the Congo Basin comprises the second largest tropical forest and is considered the most pristine large basin left on Earth, in situ N2O and CH4 flux measurements are scarce. Here, we provide multi-year data derived from on-ground soil flux (n = 1558) and riverine dissolved gas concentration (n = 332) measurements spanning montane, swamp, and lowland forests. Each forest type core monitoring site was sampled at least for one hydrological year between 2016 - 2020 at a frequency of 7-14 days. We estimate a terrestrial CH4 uptake (in kg CH4-C ha−1 yr−1) for montane (−4.28) and lowland forests (−3.52) and a massive CH4 release from swamp forests (non-inundated 2.68; inundated 341). All investigated forest types were a N2O source (except for inundated swamp forest) with 0.93, 1.56, 3.5, and −0.19 kg N2O-N ha−1 yr−1 for montane, lowland, non-inundated swamp, and inundated swamp forests, respectively.
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Barthel, M., Bauters, M., Baumgartner, S., Drake, T. W., Bey, N. M., Bush, G., Boeckx, P., Dériaz, N., Gallarotti, N., Summerauer, L., Van Oost, K., Six, J., & et al. (2022). Low N2O and variable CH4 fluxes from tropical forest soils of the Congo Basin. Nature Communications, 13(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-27978-6 (Original work published 2022)