Sutka, R.L., N.E. Ostrom, A.S. Grandy, K.H. Huizinga, P.H. Ostrom, and G.P. Robertson
Presented at the All Scientist Meeting (2004-10-08 )
Apportioning the origins of nitrous oxide to the microbial activity of nitrifyinig and denitrifying bacteria in soils has been an elusive but important aspect of mitigating the fluxes of this important greenhouse gas from soils. Traditional stable isotope approaches have not been successful. In this study, we introduce a new isotopic approach for determining the relative importance of nitrification and denitrification in nitrous oxide flux by measuring the 15N content in each of the individual atoms in nitrous oxide. The difference in d15N between these atoms is termed Site Preference (S.P.) and is a promising approach for resolving the origins of nitrous oxide.
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