Investigating biological uptake of nitrous oxide (N2O)in soils

Excessive emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), are driving uncontrolled planetary heating. This is already causing devastating consequences for our climate and to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, we mustn’t let global heating exceed 1.5°C.

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is 265 times as powerful a GHG as CO₂ and persists in the atmosphere for 120 years, meaning today’s N₂O emissions will still be affecting the climate in five generations’ time. Given the ongoing trajectory of global GHG emissions, we already require negative emissions technology to limit global heating to 1.5ºC

Current understanding is that the only process that consumes N₂O in soils is complete denitrification, which occurs under extremely wet conditions when a proportion of N₂O produced is converted to nitrogen gas and returned to the atmosphere. New technologies, however, have provided data which suggest that there may be a previously unknown biological process which consumes N₂O in soils, under dry aerated conditions.

We will present initial data describing soils which have this capacity and discuss approaches to answer the following key questions: how N₂O uptake occurs in soils; who is responsible; why these organisms take up N₂O; where within the soil N₂O uptake occurs; when it occurs and under what conditions and; how much N₂O is drawn down.