Impacts of climate and land use on N 2 O and CH 4 fluxes from tropical ecosystems in the Mt. Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania.

In this study, we quantify the impacts of climate and land use on soil N 2 O and CH 4 fluxes from tropical forest, agroforest, arable and savanna ecosystems in Africa. To do so, we measured greenhouse gases (GHG) fluxes from 12 different ecosystems along climate and land-use gradients at Mt. Kilimanjaro, combining long-term in situ chamber and laboratory soil core incubation techniques. Both methods showed similar patterns of GHG exchange. Although there were distinct differences from ecosystem to ecosystem, soils generally functioned as net sources and sinks for N 2 O and CH 4 respectively. N 2 O emissions correlated positively with soil moisture and total soil nitrogen content. CH 4 uptake rates correlated negatively with soil moisture and clay content and positively with SOC. Due to moderate soil moisture contents and the dominance of nitrification in soil N turnover, N 2 O emissions of tropical montane forests were generally low (<1.2 kg N ha -1  year -1 ), and it is likely that ecosystem N losses are driven instead by nitrate leaching (~10 kg N ha -1  year -1 ). Forest soils with well-aerated litter layers were a significant sink for atmospheric CH 4 (up to 4 kg C ha -1  year -1 ) regardless of low mean annual temperatures at higher elevations. Land-use intensification significantly increased the soil N 2 O source strength and significantly decreased the soil CH 4 sink. Compared to decreases in aboveground and belowground carbon stocks enhanced soil non-CO 2 GHG emissions following land-use conversion from tropical forests to homegardens and coffee plantations were only a small factor in the total GHG budget. However, due to lower ecosystem carbon stock changes, enhanced N 2 O emissions significantly contributed to total GHG emissions following conversion of savanna into grassland and particularly maize. Overall, we found that the protection and sustainable management of aboveground and belowground carbon and nitrogen stocks of agroforestry and arable systems is most crucial for mitigating GHG emissions from land-use change.
(© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)