| The greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) is around 300 times stronger than carbon dioxide and long lived in the atmosphere where it is decomposed along with stratospheric ozone. Most nitrous oxide is produced in the soil by micro organisms when nitrogen is in excess compared to plant needs. Biomass production needs available nitrogen. The connection between biomass production and nitrogen has implication on nitrous oxide emission, but implies also existence of possibilities to mitigate the emission.
My research concern is to gather new and synthesize existing knowledge to be able to scale the N2O emission from a clod of soil to the whole agricultural landscape, and also from hours to decades. Both a natural background emission and the main anthropogenic influences will be studied, for suggestions on possible mitigation options. |