Comparison of soil greenhouse gas fluxes from extensive and intensive grazing in a temperate maritime climate

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Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from a seminatural, extensively sheep-grazed drained moorland and intensively sheep-grazed fertilised grassland in South East (SE) Scotland were compared over 4 yr (2007-2010). Nitrous oxide (N 2O) and methane (CH4) fluxes were measured by static chambers, respiration from soil plus ground vegetation by a flow-through chamber, and the net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) by eddy-covariance. All GHG fluxes displayed high temporal and interannual variability. Temperature, radiation, water table height and precipitation could explain a significant percentage of seasonal and interannual variations. Greenhouse gas fluxes were dominated by the net ecosystem exchange of CO 2 at both sites. Net ecosystem exchange of CO2 and respiration was much larger on the productive fertilised grassland (-1567 and 7157 g CO 2eq m-2 yr-1, respectively) than on the seminatural moorland (-267 and 2554 g CO2eq m-2 yr -1, respectively). Large ruminant CH4 (147 g CO 2eq m-2 yr-1) and soil N2O (384 g CO2eq m-2 yr-1) losses from the grazed grassland counteracted the CO2 uptake by 34%, whereas the small N2O (0.8 g CO2eq m-2 yr-1) and CH4 (7 g CO2eq m-2 yr-1) emissions from the moorland only impacted the NEE flux by 3%. The 4-yr average GHG budget for the grazed grassland was-1034 g CO2eq m-2 yr-1 and-260 g CO2eq m-2 yr-1 for the moorland. © 2013 Author(s).

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Skiba, U., Jones, S. K., Drewer, J., Helfter, C., Anderson, M., Dinsmore, K., … Sutton, M. A. (2013). Comparison of soil greenhouse gas fluxes from extensive and intensive grazing in a temperate maritime climate. Biogeosciences, 10(2), 1231–1241. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-1231-2013

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