Greenhouse gas exchange of organic soils in Northwest Germany : effects of organic soil cultivation, agricultural land use and restoration

Abstract

To date, there is still a lack of reliable data about fluxes of greenhouse gases and global warming potentials for organic soils to determine the climatic relevance and supply the National Inventory Report for the German Greenhouse Gas Inventory. In this study, flux rates of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane and global warming potentials for different organic soils in Northern Germany were achieved. The gas exchange was measured roughly monthly year-round with a closed chamber technique. Transparent and opaque closed chambers were used, to separate ecosystem respiration and gross primary production, and to include the vegetation in the measurements, to factor the influence of the plants into the gas exchange. The CO2 exchange was modelled at high resolution with site parameters with the measured and modelled values fitting very well together. A recommended measure is to achieve a water level of a few centimetres below ground surface. A high intensity land use should be avoided. Because of inter-annual variation, measurements over several years are necessary.