Implication of Land Use and Belowground Weather on Nitrous Oxide Soil Depth Profiles and Denitrification Potential

Agricultural soils are the largest single source of anthropogenic nitrous oxide (N2O) to the atmosphere, which is largely attributed to the expansion in the use of synthetic fertilizer nitrogen (N). Alfalfa crops often do not require synthetic N addition because N is fixed symbiotically belowground. Some biologically fixed N leaks into soil, which could affect production and consumption of N2O. While many studies have reported net fluxes of N2O at the soil surface, few have quantified variation in N2O concentration at multiple soil depths under variable climatic conditions without synthetic N inputs. A no-till crop field, seeded to alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in 2009, was compared to neighboring native prairie in North Dakota, U.S.A. to determine if N2O, CO2 and CH4 concentrations varied with depth between fields for 4 years. Both fields (> 15 ha) were harvested for hay without N-fertilizer inputs between 2009 and 2013. Soils and instrumentation were similar. Sensors and soil gas well collection chambers were buried at near-surface (15 and 30 cm) and sub-surface (60 and 90 cm) soil depths. Temperature, moisture, oxygen, relative humidity, and pressure data were collected every 30 minutes, and gas well concentration data were collected twice weekly until spring 2013. Cores were collected for each depth increment in 2012, and potential rates of denitrification and anammox were measured for the 0-15 cm depth using soil slurry incubation experiments with 15N tracer treatments. We evaluated temporal variability in N2O concentration with depth and found N2O spikes beneath alfalfa tended to be an order of magnitude higher and more persistent than N2O peaks beneath prairie. Median N2O concentrations at sub-surface depths were greater than near-surface depths. Alfalfa median N2O concentrations for near-surface (24 nmols N2O L-1) and sub-soils (30 nmols N2O L-1) were higher than N2O concentrations beneath prairie (15 nmols N2O L-1 and 17 nmols N2O L-1, respectively). Soil oxygen profiles followed similar patterns for cropland and prairie, ranging from 12 to 21%, with median values of 19 and 20% at both depths. We did not observe linear concentration gradients between 15 and 90 cm depths, likely due to differences in rates of production and consumption throughout the soil profile. Potential rates of denitrification at 0-15 cm were over two times higher in the cropland, as compared to prairie. We conclude that N2O production occurs not only close to the surface but also nearly a meter beneath both undisturbed prairie and cropland. Greater surface fluxes and N2O concentrations at all depths in the cropland under variable conditions point to enhanced N2O production in the absence of synthetic N addition from 2009-2013. While denitrification potential in the laboratory was greater beneath this alfalfa field, the soil oxygen profile measurements indicated conditions favorable for complete denitrification of N to N2 were rare at near-surface and sub-surface soil depths. Microbial N2O production and consumption processes vary with soil depth and land use in the absence of synthetic N inputs, and further investigation is warranted.