Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Terrestrial Plants: Observations, Mechanisms And Implications

This chapter reviews recent research on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from terrestrial plants. This source of N2O has been greatly ignored in most previous N2O flux measurements in terrestrial ecosystems, and may cause errors in the estimate of N2O fluxes from some terrestrial ecosystems. The contribution of N2O emissions from Such terrestrial ecosystems to the inventory of atmospheric N2O is likely underestimated. Nitrous oxide emissions from terrestrial plants could be a major "missing" Source of global N2O budget. This chapter reviews up-to-date information on N2O emissions from plants. It covers early representative evidence of N2O emissions from plants, the mechanisms of N2O production in plants as well as transport through plants. The chapter also reviews likely major controlling factors governing N2O emissions from plants, and presents a conceptual model to integrate the available information. At the end of the chapter, information on the exchange of other N trace gases between plants and the atmosphere is briefly reviewed, and the implication of N2O emissions from plants on global N2O budget is discussed.