Dynamics of greenhouse gas fluxes and soil physico-chemical properties in agricultural and forest soils

Abstract Examination of greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes (CO2, CH4, and N2O) in soils is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate climate change. In this study, we investigated the GHG fluxes in agricultural and forest soils to explore the changes in soil GHG fluxes, and assess the relationships of GHGs with other physico-chemical properties. Results show that forest soils have a higher CO2 flux, while agricultural soils have a higher N2O flux due to fertilizer application and heterotrophic nitrification. Forest soils act as a CH4 sink, which are connected with increased porosity and decreased bulk density. In agricultural soils, CO2 and N2O were strongly linked with NH4+, soil temperature, pH, soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, plant-available phosphorous, and microbial biomass nitrogen (mbN) but were negatively connected with bulk density and microbial biomass carbon (mbC). In contrast to CO2 and N2O, CH4 in agricultural soils exhibited inverse relationships with all physico-chemical properties. In forest soils, CO2 and CH4 were positively correlated with soil temperature and mbC, and mbN and N2O were negatively correlated with bulk density and pH. This study highlights the critical need to comprehend the complex relationship between soil physico-chemical properties and GHG fluxes for effective climate change mitigation.