Abstract
The global budget of nitrous oxide is out of balance, with sources exceeding sinks by 30–40%, and our understanding of the causes of this imbalance is inadequate. Moreover, our knowledge of the budgets of other nitrogen-containing trace gases is worse than that for nitrous oxide. An analysis of the overall global nitrogen cycle and anthropogenic perturbations to it suggest that the global cycle has been altered to a greater extent than has nitrous oxide, in that fluxes of nitrogen across ecosystem boundaries have more than doubled as a consequence of human activity. The dominant sources of change to the overall cycle are agricultural intensification and land-use change, particularly in tropical regions. These processes should be evaluated carefully as causal factors for imbalances in global budgets of nitrogen-containing trace gases.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aber, J.D., J.K. Nadelhoffer, P.A. Steudler, and J.M. Melillo. 1989. Nitrogen saturation in northern forest ecosystems: hypotheses and implications. Bioscience, 39:378–386.
Anderson, I.C., and J.S. Levine. 1987. Simultaneous field measurements of biogenic emissions of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide. J. Geophys. Res. 92:965–957.
Anderson, I.C., J.S. Levine, M.A. Poth, and P.J. Riggan. 1988. Enhanced biogenic emissions of nitric oxide and nitrous oxide following surface biomass burning. J. Geophys. Res. 93:3893–3898.
Armenian, T.V. 1980. Drainage of organic soils as a factor in the world carbon cycle. BioScience 30:825–830.
Bakwin, P.S., S.C. Wofsy, S.-M. Fan, M. Keller, S.E. Trumbore, and J.M. da Costa. 1990. Emission of nitric oxide from tropical forest soils and exchange of N2O between the forest canopy and atmospheric boundary layers. J. Geophys. Res. 95:755–16764.
Bakwin, P.S., S.C. Wofsy, and S.-M. Fan. 1990. Measurements of reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) within and above a tropical forest canopy in the wet season. J. Geophs. Res. 95:16765–16772.
Bolin, B., P.J. Crutzen, P.M. Vitousek, R.G. Woodmansee, E.D. Goldberg, and R.B. Cook. 1983. Interactions of biogeochemical cycles. In B. Bolin and R.B. Cook (eds.), The Biogeochemical Cycles and Their Interactions, J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 8–40.
Bowden, R.D., P.A. Steudler, J.M. Melillo, and J.D. Aber. 1990. Annual nitrous oxide fluxes from temperate forest soils in the northeastern United States. J. Geophys. Res. 95:13997–14005.
Bowden, W.B., and F.H. Bormann. 1986. Transport and loss of nitrous oxide in soil water after forest clear-cutting. Science 233:867–869.
Carpenter, E.J., and D.G. Capone. 1983. Nitrogen fixation by marine Oscillatoria (Trichodesmium) in the world’s oceans. In E.J. Carpenter and D.G. Capone (eds.), Nitrogen in the Marine Environment, Academic Press, New York, pp. 65–103.
Cicerone, R. 1989. Analysis of sources and sinks of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O). J. Geophys. Res. 94:18265–19272.
Cicerone, R.J., and R.S. Oremland. 1988. Biogeochemical aspects of methane cycling. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 2:299–327.
Cofer, W.R., J.S. Levine, E.L. Winstead, and B.J. Stocks. 1991. New estimates of nitrous oxide emissions from biomass burning. Nature 349:689–691.
Crutzen, P. 1970. The influence of nitrogen oxides on the atmospheric ozone content. Quart. J. Roy. Met. Soc. 96:320–325.
Crutzen, P.J., and M.O. Andreae. 1990. Biomass burning in the tropics: impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Science 250:1669–1678.
Davidson, E.A., P.M. Vitousek, P.A. Matson, R. Riley, G. García-Méndez, and J.M. Maass. 1991. Soil emissions of nitric oxide in a seasonally dry tropical forest of Mexico. J. Geophys. Res. 96:15439–15445.
Davidson, E.A., P.A. Matson, P.M. Vitousek, R. Riley, K. Dunkin, G. García-Méndez, and J.M. Maass. 1993. Process regulation of soil emissions of NO and N2O in a seasonally dry tropical forest. Ecology 74:130–139.
Detwiler, R.P., and C.A.S. Hall. 1988. Tropical forests and the global carbon cycle. Science 239:43–47.
Duxbury, J.M., D.R. Bouldin, R.E. Terry, and R.L. Tait III. 1982. Emissions of nitrous oxide from soils. Nature 298:462–464.
EPA. 1990. Greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural ecosystems, IPCC Report, Washington, D.C.
Eichner, M.J. 1990. Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized soils: summary of the available data. J. Env. Qual. 19:272–280.
FAO. 1985. FAO Fertilizer Yearbook. United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, Rome.
Firestone, M.K., and E.A. Davidson. 1989. Microbiological basis of NO and N2O production and consumption in soil. In M.O. Andreae and D.S. Schimel (eds.), Exchange of Trace Gases Between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere, J. Wiley & Sons, New York.
Fung, I., J. John, J. Lerner, E. Matthews, M. Prather, L.P. Steele, and P.J. Fraser. 1991. Three-dimensional model synthesis of the global methane cycle. J. Geophys. Res. 96:13033–13065.
García-Méndez, G., J.M. Maass, P.A. Matson, and P.M. Vitousek. 1991. Nitrogen transformations and nitrous oxide flux in a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico. Oecologia 88:362–366.
Goreau, T.J., and W.Z. de Mello. 1987. Effects of deforestation on source and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane from central Amazonian soils and biota during the dry season: a preliminary study. In E. Salati, P.B. Vose, and T. Lovejoy (eds.), Biogeochemistry of Tropical Rainforests: Problems for Research, CENA, Piracicaba, Brazil.
Hao, W.M., S.C. Wofsy, M.B. Mc Elroy, J.M. Beer, and M.A. Togan. 1987. Sources of atmospheric nitrous oxide from combustion. J. Geophys. Res. 92:3098–3104.
Jacob, D.J., and S.C. Wofsy. 1990. Budgets of reactive nitrogen, hydrocarbons, and ozone over the Amazon forest during the wet season. J. Geophys. Res. 95: 16737–16754.
Jenny, H. 1980. Soil Genesis with Ecological Perspectives, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Johansson, C., H. Rodhe, and E. Sanhueza. 1988. Emission of NO in a tropical savanna and cloud forest during the dry season. J. Geophys. Res. 93:7180–7192.
. Johansson, C., and E. Sanhueza. 1988. Emission of NO from savanna soils during the rainy season. J. Geophys. Res. 93:14193–14198.
Kaplan, W.A., S.C. Wofsy, M. Keller, and J.M. da Costa. 1988. Emission of NO and deposition of 03 in a tropical forest system. J. Geophys. Res. 93:1389–1395.
Keller, M., T. Goreau, S. Wofsy, W. Kaplan, and M. McElroy. 1983. Production of nitrous oxide and consumption of methane by forest soils. Geophys. Res. Lett. 10:1156–1159.
Keller, M., W.A. Kaplan, and S.C. Wofsy. 1986. Emissions of N2O, CH4, and CO2 from tropical soils. J. Geophys. Res. 91:11791–11802.
Keller, M., W. Kaplan, S. Wofsy, and J.M. da Costa. 1988. Emissions of N2O from tropical soils: Response to fertilization with NH4 +, NO3, and PO4-. J. Geophys. Res. 93:1600–1604.
Keller, M., M.E. Mitre, and R.F. Stallard. 1990. Consumption of atmospheric methane in soils of central Panama: effects of agricultural development. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 4:21–27.
Linak, W.P., J.A. McSorley, R.E. Hall, J.V. Ryan, R.K. Srivastava, J.O.L. Wendt, and J.B. Mareb. 1990. Nitrous oxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion. J. Geophys. Res. 95:7533–7541.
Livingston, G., P. Vitousek, and P. Matson. 1988. Nitrous oxide flux and nitrogen transformations across a landscape gradient in Amazonia. J. Geophys. Res. 93: 1593–1599.
Lobert, J.M., D.H. Scharffe, W.M. Hao, and P.J. Crutzen. 1990. Importance of biomass burning in the atmospheric budget of nitrogen-containing trace gases. Nature 346:552–554.
Luizáo, F., P. Matson, G. Livingston, R. Luizáo, and P. Vitousek. 1989. Nitrous oxide flux following tropical land clearing. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 3:281–285.
Matson, P.A., and P.M. Vitousek. 1987. Cross-system comparisons of soil nitrogen transformations and nitrous oxide flux in tropical forest ecosystems. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 1:163–170.
Matson, P.A., and P.M. Vitousek. 1990. Ecosystem approach to a global nitrous oxide budget. Bioscience 40:667–672.
Matson, P.A., and P.M. Vitousek. Biosphere-atmosphere interactions in a tropical deciduous forest ecosystem. In H.A. Mooney, E. Medina, and S.H. Bullock (eds.), The Tropical Deciduous Forest Ecosystem (in press).
Matson, P.A., P.M. Vitousek, J. Ewel, M. Mazzarino, and G. Robertson. 1987. Nitrogen transformations following tropical forest felling and burning on a volcanic soil. Ecology 68:491–502.
Matson, P.A., P.M. Vitousek, G.P. Livingston, and N. Swanberg. 1990. Nitrous oxide flux from Amazonian forests: effects of soil fertility and disturbance. J. Geophys. Res. 95:16789–16798.
McElroy, M., and J. McConnell. 1971. Nitrous oxide: A natural source of stratospheric NO. J. Atmos. Sci. 28:1095–1098.
McElroy, M.B., and S.C. Wofsy. 1986. Tropical forests: Interactions with the atmosphere. In G.T. Prance (ed.), Tropical Rain Forests and the World Atmosphere. AAAS Selected symposium 101, Westview Press, Boulder, CO.
Melillo, J.M., P.A. Steudler, J.D. Aber, and R.D. Bowden. 1989. Atmospheric deposition and nutrient cycling. In M.O. Andreae and D.S. Schimel (eds.), Exchange of Gases Between Terrestrial Ecosystems and the Atmosphere, J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 263–280.
Minami, K., and A. Ohsawa. 1990. Emission of nitrous oxide dissolved in drainage water from agricultural land. In A.F. Bouwman (ed.), Soils and the Greenhouse Effect, J. Wiley and Sons, Chichester, pp. 502–509.
Moore, B., R.D. Boone, J.E. Hobbie, R.A. Houghton, J.M. Melillo, B.J. Peterson, G.I. Shaver, C.J. Vorosmarty, and G.M. Woodwell. 1981. A simple model for analysis of the role of terrestrial ecosystems in the global carbon budget. In B. Bolin (ed.), Carbon Cycle Modelling. J. Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 365–385.
Mosier, A.R., W.D. Guenzi, and E.E. Schweizer. 1986. Soil losses of dinitrogen and nitrous oxide from irrigated crops in northeastern Colorado. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 50:344–348.
Mosier, A.R., S.K. Mohanty, A. Bhadrachalam, and S.F. Chakravorti. 1990. Evolution of dinitrogen and nitrous oxide from the soil to the atmosphere through rice plants. Biol. Fert. Soils 9:61–67.
Mosier, A., D. Schimel, D. Valentine, K. Bronson, and W. Parton. 1991. Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in native, fertilized, and cultivated grasslands. Nature 350:330–332.
Muzio, L.J. and J.C. Kramlich. 1988. An artifact in the measurement of NZO from combustion sources. Geophys. Res. Lett. 15(12):1369–1372.
Penner, J.E., C.S. Atherton, J. Dignon, S.J. Ghan, and J.J. Walton. 1991. Tropospheric nitrogen: a three-dimensional study of sources, distributions, and deposition. J. Geophys. Res. 96:959–990.
Prinn, R., D. Cunnold, R. Rasmussen, P. Simmonds, F. Alyea., A. Crawford, P. Fraser, and R. Rosen. 1990. Atmospheric trends and emissions of nitrous oxide deduced from ten years of ALE-GAGE data. J. Geophys. Res. 95:18369–18385.
Raison, R.J. 1979. Modification of the soil environment by vegetation fires, with particular reference to nitrogen transformations: a review. Plant and Soil 51:73108.
Rasmussen, R.A., and M.A.K. Khalil. 1986. Atmospheric trace gases: Trends and distributions over the last decade. Science 232:1623–1624.
Robertson, G.P., and T.H. Rosswall. 1986. Nitrogen in West Africa: the regional cycle. Ecol. Monogr. 56:43–72.
Robertson, G.P., and J.M. Tiedje. 1984. Denitrification and nitrous oxide production in successional and old-growth Michigan forests. Soil Sci. Soc. Amer. J. 48:383–389.
Robertson, G.P., and J.M. Tiedje. 1988. Deforestation alters denitrification in a lowland tropical rain forest. Nature 336:756–759.
Ronan, D., M. Mordeckai, and E. Almon. 1988. Contaminated aquifers are forgotten component of the global N2O budget. Nature 335:57–59.
Sahrawat, K.L., and D.R. Keeney. 1986. Nitrous oxide emissions from soils. Adv. Soil Sci. 4:103–148.
Sanhueza, E., W.M. Hao, D. Scharffe, L. Donoso, and P.J. Crutzen. 1990. N2O and NO emissions from soils of the Guyana Shield. J. Geophys. Res. 95:22481–22488.
Schlesinger, W.H. 1986. Changes in soil carbon storage and associated properties with disturbance and recovery. In J.R. Trabalka, and D.E. Reichle (eds.), The Changing Carbon Cycle: A Global Analysis, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 194–220.
Schlesinger, W.H. 1991. Biogeochemistry: An Analysis of Global Change, Academic Press, San Diego.
Schmidt, J., W. Seiler, and R. Conrad. 1988. Emission of nitrous oxide from temperate forest soils into the atmosphere. J. Atmos. Chem. 6:95–115.
Seiler, W., and R. Conrad. 1981. Field measurements of natural and fertilizer induced N2O release rates from soils. J. Air Poll. Contr. Assn. 31:767–772.
Seiler, W., and P. Crutzen. 1980. Estimates of gross and net fluxes of carbon between the biosphere and atmosphere from biomass burning. Climatic Change 2:207–248.
Slemr, F., R. Conrad, and W. Seiler. 1984. Nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized and unfertilized soils in a subtropical region (Andalusia, Spain). J. Atmos. Chem. 1:159–169.
Soderlund, R., and T.H. Rosswall. 1982. The nitrogen cycles. In O. Hutzinger (ed.), Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, pp. 62–81.
Steudler, P.P., R.D. Bowden, J.M. Melillo, and J.D. Aber. 1989. Influence of nitrogen fertilization on methane uptake in temperate forest soils. Nature 341: 314–316.
Tans, P.O., I.Y. Fung, and T. Takahashi. 1990. Observational constraints on the global atmospheric CO2 budget. Science 247:1431–1439.
Thiemens, M.H., and W.C. Trogler. 1991. Nylon production: an unknown source of atmospheric nitrous oxide. Science 251:932–934.
Vitousek, P.M., and R.W. Howarth. 1991. Nitrogen limitation on land and in the sea: how can it occur? Biogeochemistry 13:87–115.
Vitousek, P.M., and P.A. Matson. 1988. Nitrogen transformations in tropical forest soils. Soil Biol. Biochem. 20:361–367.
Vitousek, P.M., and W.A. Reiners. 1975. Ecosystem succession and nutrient retention: a hypothesis. BioScience 25:376–381.
Vitousek, P.M., and R.L. Sanford. 1986. Nutrient cycling in moist tropical forest. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17:137–167.
Vitousek, P.M., P.A. Matson, C. Volkmann, J.M. Maass, and G. García-Mendéz. 1989. Nitrous oxide flux from seasonally-dry tropical forests: a survey. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 3:375–382.
Watson, R.T., H. Rodhe, H. Oeschger, and U. Siegenthaler. 1990. Greenhouse gases and aerosols. In J.T. Houghton, G.J. Jenkins, and J.J. Ephraums (eds.), Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–40.
Weiss, R.F. 1981. The temporal and spatial distribution of tropospheric nitrous oxide. J. Geophys. Res. 86(C8):7185–7195.
Williams, E.J., and F.C. Fehsenfeld. 1991. Measurement of soil nitrogen oxide emissions in three north American ecosystems. J. Geophys. Res. 96:1033–1042.
WMO. 1986. Atmospheric ozone 1985: Assessment of our understanding of the processes controlling its present distribution and change, Global Ozone and Monitoring Project, Report 16, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vitousek, P.M., Matson, P.A. (1993). Agriculture, the Global Nitrogen Cycle, and Trace Gas Flux. In: Oremland, R.S. (eds) Biogeochemistry of Global Change. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2812-8_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2812-8_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-6215-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2812-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive