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Agricultural soils play a dual role in regulating the Earth's climate by releasing or sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) in soil organic carbon (SOC) and emitting non‐CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). To understand how agricultural soils can play a role in climate solutions requires a comprehensive assessment of net soil GHG balance (i.e., sum of SOC‐sequestered CO2 and non‐CO2 GHG emissions) and the underlying controls. Herein, we used a model‐data integration approach to understand and quantify how natural and anthropogenic factors have affected the magnitude and spatiotemporal variations of the net soil GHG balance in U.S. croplands during 1960–2018. Specifically, we used the dynamic land ecosystem model for regional simulations and used field observations of SOC sequestration rates and N2O and CH4 emissions to calibrate, validate, and corroborate model simulations. Results show that U.S. agricultural soils sequestered 13.2±1.16$$ 13.2\pm 1.16 $$ Tg CO2‐C year−1 in SOC (at a depth of 3.5 m) during 1960–2018 and emitted 0.39±0.02$$ 0.39\pm 0.02 $$ Tg N2O‐N year−1 and 0.21±0.01$$ 0.21\pm 0.01 $$ Tg CH4‐C year−1, respectively. Based on the GWP100 metric (global warming potential on a 100‐year time horizon), the estimated national net GHG emission rate from agricultural soils was 122.3±11.46$$ 122.3\pm 11.46 $$ Tg CO2‐eq year−1, with the largest contribution from N2O emissions. The sequestered SOC offset ~28% of the climate‐warming effects resulting from non‐CO2 GHG emissions, and this offsetting effect increased over time. Increased nitrogen fertilizer use was the dominant factor contributing to the increase in net GHG emissions during 1960–2018, explaining ~47% of total changes. In contrast, reduced cropland area, the adoption of agricultural conservation practices (e.g., reduced tillage), and rising atmospheric CO2 levels attenuated net GHG emissions from U.S. croplands. Improving management practices to mitigate N2O emissions represents the biggest opportunity for achieving net‐zero emissions in U.S. croplands. Our study highlights the importance of concurrently quantifying SOC‐sequestered CO2 and non‐CO2 GHG emissions for developing effective agricultural climate change mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented nitrogen (N) inputs into terrestrial ecosystems have profoundly altered soil N cycling. Ammonia oxidizers and denitrifiers are the main producers of nitrous oxide (N2O), but it remains unclear how ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances will respond to N loading and whether their responses can predict N‐induced changes in soil N2O emission. By synthesizing 101 field studies worldwide, we showed that N loading significantly increased ammonia oxidizer abundance by 107% and denitrifier abundance by 45%. The increases in both ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances were primarily explained by N loading form, and more specifically, organic N loading had stronger effects on their abundances than mineral N loading. Nitrogen loading increased soil N2O emission by 261%, whereas there was no clear relationship between changes in soil N2O emission and shifts in ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances. Our field‐based results challenge the laboratory‐based hypothesis that increased ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances by N loading would directly cause higher soil N2O emission. Instead, key abiotic factors (mean annual precipitation, soil pH, soil C:N ratio, and ecosystem type) explained N‐induced changes in soil N2O emission. Altogether, these findings highlight the need for considering the roles of key abiotic factors in regulating soil N transformations under N loading to better understand the microbially mediated soil N2O emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Changing precipitation regimes could have profound influences on carbon (C) cycle in the biosphere. However, how soil C release from terrestrial ecosystems responds to changing seasonal distribution of precipitation remains unclear. A field experiment was conducted for 4 years (2013–2016) to examine the effects of altered precipitation distributions in the growing season on soil respiration in a temperate steppe in the Mongolian Plateau. Over the 4 years, both advanced and delayed precipitation peaks suppressed soil respiration, and the reductions mainly occurred in August. The decreased soil respiration could be primarily attributable to water stress and subsequently limited plant growth (community cover and belowground net primary productivity) and soil microbial activities in the middle growing season, suggesting that precipitation amount in the middle growing season is more important than that in the early, late, or whole growing seasons in regulating soil C release in grasslands. The observations of the additive effects of advanced and delayed precipitation peaks indicate semiarid grasslands will release less C through soil respiratory processes under the projected seasonal redistribution of precipitation in the future. Our findings highlight the potential role of intra‐annual redistribution of precipitation in regulating ecosystem C cycling in arid and semiarid regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the large extent and great amount of soil carbon (C) storage, drylands play an important role in terrestrial C balance and feedbacks to climate change. Yet, how dryland soils respond to gradual and concomitant changes in multiple global change drivers [e.g., temperature ( Ts), precipitation (Ppt), and atmospheric [CO2] (CO2)] has rarely been studied. We used a process-based ecosystem model patch arid land simulator to simulate dryland soil respiration ( Rs) and C pool size ( Cs) changes to abrupt vs. gradual and single vs. combined alterations in Ts, Ppt and CO2 at multiple treatment levels. Results showed that abrupt perturbations generally resulted in larger Rs and had longer differentiated impacts than did gradual perturbations. Rs was stimulated by increases in Ts, Ppt, and CO2 in a nonlinear fashion (e.g., parabolically or asymptotically) but suppressed by Ppt reduction. Warming mainly stimulated heterotrophic Rs (i.e., Rh) whereas Ppt and CO2 influenced autotrophic Rs (i.e., Ra). The combined effects of warming, Ppt, and CO2 were nonadditive of primary single-factor effects as a result of substantial interactions among these factors. Warming amplified the effects of both Ppt addition and CO2 elevation whereas Ppt addition and CO2 elevation counteracted with each other. Precipitation reduction either magnified or suppressed warming and CO2 effects, depending on the magnitude of factor's alteration and the components of Rs ( Ra or Rh) being examined. Overall, Ppt had dominant influence on dryland Rs and Cs over Ts and CO2. Increasing Ppt individually or in combination with Ts and CO2 benefited soil C sequestration. We therefore suggested that global change experimental studies for dryland ecosystems should focus more on the effects of precipitation regime changes and the combined effects of Ppt with other global change factors (e.g., Ts, CO2, and N deposition). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study used an environmentally controlled plant growth facility, EcoCELLs, to measure canopy gas exchanges directly and to examine the effects of elevated [CO2] on canopy radiation- and water-use efficiencies. Sunflowers (Helianthus annus var. Mammoth) were grown at ambient (399 μmol mol-1) and elevated [CO2] (746 μmol mol-1) for 53 days in EcoCELLs. Whole canopy carbon- and water-fluxes were measured continuously during the period of the experiment. The results indicated that elevated [CO2] enhanced daily total canopy carbon- and water-fluxes by 53% and 11%, respectively, on a ground-area basis, resulting in a 54% increase in radiation-use efficiency (RUE) based on intercepted photosynthetic active radiation and a 26% increase in water-use efficiency (WUE) by the end of the experiment. Canopy carbon- and water-fluxes at both CO2 treatments varied with canopy development. They were small at 22 days after planting (DAP) and gradually increased to the maxima at 46 DAP. When canopy carbon- and water-fluxes were expressed on a leaf-area basis, no effect of CO2 was found for canopy water-flux while elevated [CO2] still enhanced canopy carbon-flux by 29%, on average. Night-time canopy carbon-flux was 32% higher at elevated than at ambient [CO2]. In addition, RUE and WUE displayed strong diurnal variations, high at noon and low in the morning or afternoon for WUE but opposite for RUE. This study provided direct evidence that plant canopy may consume more, instead of less, water but utilize both water and radiation more efficiently at elevated than at ambient [CO2], at least during the exponential growth period as illustrated in this experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This study used an environmentally controlled plant growth facility, EcoCELLs, to measure canopy gas exchanges directly and to examine the effects of elevated [CO2] on canopy radiation- and water-use efficiencies. Sunflowers (Helianthus annus var. Mammoth) were grown at ambient (399 μmol mol-1) and elevated [CO2] (746 μmol mol-1) for 53 days in EcoCELLs. Whole canopy carbon- and water-fluxes were measured continuously during the period of the experiment. The results indicated that elevated [CO2] enhanced daily total canopy carbon- and water-fluxes by 53% and 11%, respectively, on a ground-area basis, resulting in a 54% increase in radiation-use efficiency (RUE) based on intercepted photosynthetic active radiation and a 26% increase in water-use efficiency (WUE) by the end of the experiment. Canopy carbon- and water-fluxes at both CO2 treatments varied with canopy development. They were small at 22 days after planting (DAP) and gradually increased to the maxima at 46 DAP. When canopy carbon- and water-fluxes were expressed on a leaf-area basis, no effect of CO2 was found for canopy water-flux while elevated [CO2] still enhanced canopy carbon-flux by 29%, on average. Night-time canopy carbon-flux was 32% higher at elevated than at ambient [CO2]. In addition, RUE and WUE displayed strong diurnal variations, high at noon and low in the morning or afternoon for WUE but opposite for RUE. This study provided direct evidence that plant canopy may consume more, instead of less, water but utilize both water and radiation more efficiently at elevated than at ambient [CO2], at least during the exponential growth period as illustrated in this experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming intensifies the hydrological cycle, which results in changes in precipitation regime (frequency and amount), and will likely have significant impacts on soil respiration (R s ). Although the responses of R s to changes in precipitation amount have been extensively studied, there is little consensus on how R s will be affected by changes in precipitation frequency (PF) across the globe. Here, we synthesized the field observations from 296 published papers to quantify the effects of PF on R s and its components using meta-analysis. Our results indicated that the effects of PF on R s decreased with an increase in background mean annual precipitation. When the data were grouped by climate conditions, increased PF showed positive effects on R s under the arid condition but not under the semi-humid or humid conditions, whereas decreased PF suppressed R s across all the climate conditions. The positive effects of increased PF mainly resulted from the positive response of heterotrophic respiration under the arid condition while the negative effects of decreased PF were mainly attributed to the reductions in root biomass and respiration. Overall, our global synthesis provided for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the divergent effects of PF on R s and its components across climate regions. This study also provided a framework for understanding and modeling responses of ecosystem carbon cycling to global precipitation change., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Unprecedented nitrogen (N) inputs into terrestrial ecosystems have profoundly altered soil N cycling. Ammonia oxidizers and denitrifiers are the main producers of nitrous oxide (N 2 O), but it remains unclear how ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances will respond to N loading and whether their responses can predict N-induced changes in soil N 2 O emission. By synthesizing 101 field studies worldwide, we showed that N loading significantly increased ammonia oxidizer abundance by 107% and denitrifier abundance by 45%. The increases in both ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances were primarily explained by N loading form, and more specifically, organic N loading had stronger effects on their abundances than mineral N loading. Nitrogen loading increased soil N 2 O emission by 261%, whereas there was no clear relationship between changes in soil N 2 O emission and shifts in ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances. Our field-based results challenge the laboratory-based hypothesis that increased ammonia oxidizer and denitrifier abundances by N loading would directly cause higher soil N 2 O emission. Instead, key abiotic factors (mean annual precipitation, soil pH, soil C:N ratio, and ecosystem type) explained N-induced changes in soil N 2 O emission. Altogether, these findings highlight the need for considering the roles of key abiotic factors in regulating soil N transformations under N loading to better understand the microbially mediated soil N 2 O emission., (© 2021 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The soil nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability often constrains soil carbon (C) pool, and elevated N deposition could further intensify soil P limitation, which may affect soil C cycling in these N-rich and P-poor ecosystems. Soil microbial residues may not only affect soil organic carbon (SOC) pool but also impact SOC stability through soil aggregation. However, how soil nutrient availability and aggregate fractions affect microbial residues and the microbial residue contribution to SOC is still not well understood. We took advantage of a 10-year field fertilization experiment to investigate the effects of nutrient additions, soil aggregate fractions, and their interactions on the concentrations of soil microbial residues and their contribution to SOC accumulation in a tropical coastal forest. We found that continuous P addition greatly decreased the concentrations of microbial residues and their contribution to SOC, whereas N addition had no significant effect. The P-stimulated decreases in microbial residues and their contribution to SOC were presumably due to enhanced recycling of microbial residues via increased activity of residue-decomposing enzymes. The interactive effects between soil aggregate fraction and nutrient addition were not significant, suggesting a weak role of physical protection by soil aggregates in mediating microbial responses to altered soil nutrient availability. Our data suggest that the mechanisms driving microbial residue responses to increased N and P availability might be different, and the P-induced decrease in the contribution of microbial residues might be unfavorable for the stability of SOC in N-rich and P-poor tropical forests. Such information is critical for understanding the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)