Terrestrial (semi-)natural and managed ecosystems like forests, grasslands, croplands and wetlands are important sources and/or sinks for greenhouse gases (GHGs: CO2, CH4, N2O) as well as for other trace gases (VOCs, NH3, NO, HONO, Rn, He, etc.). Soils sustain complex patterns of life and act as biogeochemical reactors. Production and consumption of gases and their transport in the soil result in typical patterns of gas concentrations that play a fundamental role affecting many soil functions, such as root and plant growth, microbial activity, and stabilization of soil organic carbon. Plants can contribute to ecosystem exchange by uptake and transport of soil-produced gases to the atmosphere, in-situ production and consumption of gases in plant tissues, and alternation of carbon- and nitrogen-turn-over in adjacent soil. However, the contribution of these individual processes to the net ecosystem GHGs exchange is still unclear and seems to depend on many aspects as plant/tree species, ecosystem type, soil type and conditions, environmental parameters and seasonal dynamics.
Due to the simultaneous influence of various environmental drivers and in case of managed land also management activities, the flux patterns in soil-plant-atmosphere systems are often complex and difficult to attribute to individual drivers. However, it is clear that Interactions between soil, vegetation and the atmosphere exert a crucial role controlling the global budget of these gases and need to be well understood to make any predictions for future.
The session addresses experimentalists and modellers working on trace gas fluxes and their dynamics, production and consumption processes, transport mechanisms and interactions in terrestrial ecosystems at any relevant scale, and from the full climatic and hydrological ecosystem range. We welcome also contributions presenting methodological aspects, development and application of new devices and methods, and modelling studies that seek to integrate our understanding of trace gas exchange in terrestrial ecosystems.