ISSN:
1475-2743
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
Notes:
Abstract. Annual methane fluxes from an organic soil in eastern Finland, originally drained and planted with birch (Betula pendula) and then later cultivated, were studied for two years using a chamber technique. The agricultural soils growing grass or barley or without vegetation, generally acted as sinks for CH4. Surprisingly, the agricultural soils emitted CH4 during a warm dry summer. The CH4 oxidation capacity and CH4 uptake rate of the forested site was three times that of agricultural soils. Also, the forest soil better retained its capacity to take up CH4 during a dry summer. Despite periods of CH4 emission, the agricultural soils were annual sinks for CH4, with uptake rate of CH4-C varying from 0.1 to 3.7 kg ha−1 yr−1. The forested soil had a methane uptake rate of 3.9 kg CH4-C ha−1 yr−1. All the soils acted as sinks for CH4 during winter, which contributed up to half of the annual CH4 uptake. The capacity of soils to transport gases did not explain the larger CH4 uptake rate in the forest soil. At the same gas filled porosity, the forest soil had a much larger CH4 uptake rate than the agricultural soil. Neither the soil acidity (pH 4.5 and 6.0) nor high ammonium content appeared to limit CH4 uptake. The results suggest that CH4 oxidation in agricultural organic soil is more sensitive to soil drying than CH4 oxidation in forested organic soil.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-2743.2003.tb00282.x
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