ARS | Publication request: Denitrification and methane/nitrous oxide emissions from recreational and agricultural riparian buffers in the southeastern United States

Submitted to: Symposium on Biogeochemistry of Wetlands
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 1, 2007
Publication Date: April 1, 2007
Citation: Hunt, P.G., Moreno-Casselles, J., Ro, K.S., Ducey, T.F., Matheny, T.A. 2007. Denitrification and methane/nitrous oxide emissions from recreational and agricultural riparian buffers in the southeastern United States [abstract]. 10th International Symposium on Wetland Biogeochemistry, April 1-4, 2007, Annapolis, Maryland.

Technical Abstract: Denitrification was measured via the acetylene inhibition method in riparian buffers adjacent to a golf course and sites with various agronomic management and landscape positions in the southeastern Coastal Plain of the USA. Denitrification in the riparian buffers adjacent to the golf course was negligible. However, denitrification in the agricultural riparian buffers was significant and variable. Incomplete denitrification was also significant in soils with a carbon:nitrogen ratio <25. Soil emissions of methane and nitrous oxide were measured with a photoacoustic gas analyzer. Nitrous oxide emissions from the soils of the golf course riparian buffers were insignificant, as was expected from the denitrification data. Methane emissions from these soils were also low. Significant soil nitrous oxide emissions were observed on only two agricultural sites. Soil methane emissions from the agricultural riparian buffers were significant and variable. The highest soil methane emissions were produced in sites associated with swine wastewater application. Studies are being conducted to identify the soil micoflora from these sites.