TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge gaps in soil carbon and nitrogen interactions
T2 - from molecular to global scale
AU - Gardenas, Annemieke I.
AU - Agren, Goran I.
AU - Bird, Jeffrey A.
AU - Clarholm, Marianne
AU - Hallin, Sara
AU - Ineson, Phil
AU - Katterer, Thomas
AU - Knicker, Heike
AU - Nilsson, S. Ingvar
AU - Nasholm, Torgny
AU - Ogle, Stephen
AU - Paustian, Keith
AU - Persson, Tryggve
AU - Stendahl, Johan
PY - 2011/4
Y1 - 2011/4
N2 - The objective of this review was to identify, address and rank knowledge gaps in our understanding of five major soil C and N interactions across a range of scales from molecular to global. The studied five soil C and N interactions are: i) N controls on the soil emissions of greenhouse gases, ii) plant utilisation of organic N, iii) impact of rhizosphere priming on C and N cycling, iv) impact of black N on the stabilisation of soil organic matter (SUM) and v) representation of fractions of SUM in simulation models. We ranked the identified knowledge gaps according to the importance we attached to them for functional descriptions of soil climate interactions at the global scale, for instance in general circulation models (GCMs). Both the direct and indirect influences on soil climate interactions were included.We found that the level of understanding declined as the scale increased from molecular to global for four of the five topics. By contrast, the knowledge level for SUM simulation models appeared to be highest when considered at the ecosystem scale. The largest discrepancy between knowledge level and importance was found at the global modelling scale. We concluded that a reliable quantification of greenhouse gas emissions at the ecosystem scale is of utmost importance for improving soil climate representation in GCMs. We see as key questions the identification of the role of different N species for the temperature sensitivity of SUM decomposition rates and its consequences for plant available N. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
AB - The objective of this review was to identify, address and rank knowledge gaps in our understanding of five major soil C and N interactions across a range of scales from molecular to global. The studied five soil C and N interactions are: i) N controls on the soil emissions of greenhouse gases, ii) plant utilisation of organic N, iii) impact of rhizosphere priming on C and N cycling, iv) impact of black N on the stabilisation of soil organic matter (SUM) and v) representation of fractions of SUM in simulation models. We ranked the identified knowledge gaps according to the importance we attached to them for functional descriptions of soil climate interactions at the global scale, for instance in general circulation models (GCMs). Both the direct and indirect influences on soil climate interactions were included.We found that the level of understanding declined as the scale increased from molecular to global for four of the five topics. By contrast, the knowledge level for SUM simulation models appeared to be highest when considered at the ecosystem scale. The largest discrepancy between knowledge level and importance was found at the global modelling scale. We concluded that a reliable quantification of greenhouse gas emissions at the ecosystem scale is of utmost importance for improving soil climate representation in GCMs. We see as key questions the identification of the role of different N species for the temperature sensitivity of SUM decomposition rates and its consequences for plant available N. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79951721006&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.04.006
DO - 10.1016/j.soilbio.2010.04.006
M3 - Literature review
SN - 0038-0717
VL - 43
SP - 702
EP - 717
JO - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
JF - Soil Biology and Biochemistry
IS - 4
ER -