TY - JOUR
T1 - Fire Reduces Soil Nitrate Retention While Increasing Soil Nitrogen Production and Loss Globally
AU - Zhu, Qilin
AU - Liu, Juan
AU - Liu, Lijun
AU - El-Tarabily, Khaled A.
AU - Uwiragiye, Yves
AU - Dan, Xiaoqian
AU - Tang, Shuirong
AU - Wu, Yanzheng
AU - Zhu, Tongbin
AU - Meng, Lei
AU - Zhang, Jinbo
AU - Müller, Christoph
AU - Elrys, Ahmed S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2024/12/31
Y1 - 2024/12/31
N2 - Elucidating the response of soil gross nitrogen (N) transformations to fires could improve our understanding of how fire affects N availability and loss. Yet, how internal soil gross N transformation rates respond to fires remains unexplored globally. Here, we investigate the general response of gross soil N transformations to fire and its consequences for N availability and loss. The results showed that fire increased gross N mineralization rate (GNM; +38%) and ammonium concentration (+47%) as a result of decreased soil C/N ratio but decreased microbial nitrate immobilization (INO3; −56%), resulting in increased nitrous oxide (N2O; +50%) and nitric oxide (+121%) emissions and N leaching (+308%). Time since fire affected soil N cycling and loss. Fire increased GNM, ammonium concentration, and N2O emission, and decreased INO3 only when time since fire was less than one year, while increased N leaching in the short (one year) terms. Thus, the consequences of fire were a short-lived increase in N availability and N2O emissions (lasting less than one year) but with persistent risks of N loss by leaching over time. Overall, fire increased the potential risks of N loss by stimulating N production and inhibiting nitrate retention.
AB - Elucidating the response of soil gross nitrogen (N) transformations to fires could improve our understanding of how fire affects N availability and loss. Yet, how internal soil gross N transformation rates respond to fires remains unexplored globally. Here, we investigate the general response of gross soil N transformations to fire and its consequences for N availability and loss. The results showed that fire increased gross N mineralization rate (GNM; +38%) and ammonium concentration (+47%) as a result of decreased soil C/N ratio but decreased microbial nitrate immobilization (INO3; −56%), resulting in increased nitrous oxide (N2O; +50%) and nitric oxide (+121%) emissions and N leaching (+308%). Time since fire affected soil N cycling and loss. Fire increased GNM, ammonium concentration, and N2O emission, and decreased INO3 only when time since fire was less than one year, while increased N leaching in the short (one year) terms. Thus, the consequences of fire were a short-lived increase in N availability and N2O emissions (lasting less than one year) but with persistent risks of N loss by leaching over time. Overall, fire increased the potential risks of N loss by stimulating N production and inhibiting nitrate retention.
KW - climate change
KW - fire
KW - greenhouse gases
KW - gross nitrogen transformations
KW - nitrogen cycling
KW - nitrogen leaching
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85212557968
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85212557968#tab=citedBy
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.4c06208
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.4c06208
M3 - Article
C2 - 39680856
AN - SCOPUS:85212557968
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 58
SP - 23004
EP - 23017
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 52
ER -
