Substantial uptake of nitrous oxide (N2O) by shoots of mature European beech

0586214 - ÚVGZ 2025 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Macháčová, Kateřina - Schindler, Thomas - Bréchet, L. - Mander, Ülo - Grams, T.E.E.
Substantial uptake of nitrous oxide (N2O) by shoots of mature European beech.
Science of the Total Environment. Roč. 934, JUL (2024), č. článku 173122. ISSN 0048-9697. E-ISSN 1879-1026
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GJ17-18112Y; GA MŠMT(CZ) EF16_019/0000797; GA MŠMT(CZ) EH22_008/0004635; GA MŠMT LM2023048; GA MŠMT(CZ) LUC23162
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : exchange * fagus sylvaticaf * forest floor * greenhouse gas * tree leaves * tree stem
OECD category: Plant sciences, botany
Impact factor: 9.8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969724032698?via%3Dihub

Similar to soils, tree stems emit and consume nitrous oxide (N2O) from the atmosphere. Although tree leaves dominate tree surface area, they have been completely excluded from field N2O flux measurements and therefore their role in forest N2O exchange remains unknown. We explored the contribution of leaf fluxes to forest N2O exchange. We determined the N2O exchange of mature European beech (Fagus sylvatica) stems and shoots (i.e., terminal branches) and of adjacent forest floor, in a typical temperate upland forest in Germany. The beech stems, and particularly the shoots, acted as net N2O sinks (−0.254 ± 0.827 μg N2O m−2 stem area h−1 and −4.54 ± 1.53 μg N2O m−2 leaf area h−1, respectively), while the forest floor was a net source (2.41 ± 1.08 μg N2O m−2 soil area h−1). The unstudied tree shoots were identified as a significant contributor to the net ecosystem N2O exchange. Moreover, we revealed for the first time that tree leaves act as substantial N2O sinks. Although this is the first study of its kind, it is of global importance for the proper design of future flux studies in forest ecosystems worldwide. Our results demonstrate that excluding tree leaves from forest N2O flux measurements can lead to misinterpretation of tree and forest N2O exchange, and thus global forest greenhouse gas flux inventories.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0353796

Scientific data in ASEP :
Substantial uptake of nitrous oxide (N2O) by shoots of mature European beech