Low N<sub>2</sub>O and variable CH<sub>4</sub> fluxes from tropical forest soils of the Congo Basin.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35039512.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-27978-6 and PMC identifier 8764088.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Globally, tropical forests are assumed to be an important source of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) and sink for methane (CH4). Yet, although the Congo Basin comprises the second largest tropical forest and is considered the most pristine large basin left on Earth, in situ N2O and CH4 flux measurements are scarce. Here, we provide multi-year data derived from on-ground soil flux (n = 1558) and riverine dissolved gas concentration (n = 332) measurements spanning montane, swamp, and lowland forests. Each forest type core monitoring site was sampled at least for one hydrological year between 2016 - 2020 at a frequency of 7-14 days. We estimate a terrestrial CH4 uptake (in kg CH4-C ha-1 yr-1) for montane (-4.28) and lowland forests (-3.52) and a massive CH4 release from swamp forests (non-inundated 2.68; inundated 341). All investigated forest types were a N2O source (except for inundated swamp forest) with 0.93, 1.56, 3.5, and -0.19 kg N2O-N ha-1 yr-1 for montane, lowland, non-inundated swamp, and inundated swamp forests, respectively.