Terrestrial Plants: An Ignored Source of Nitrous Oxide Emission.

Recent research has shown the potential of nitrous oxide (N₂O) emission directly from terrestrial plants. This source of N₂O has been greatly ignored in most previous N₂O flux measurements in terrestrial ecosystems, and may cause errors in the estimate of N₂O fluxes from some terrestrial ecosystems. The contribution of N₂O emissions from such terrestrial ecosystems to the inventory of atmospheric N₂O is likely underestimated. Nitrous oxide emissions from terrestrial plants could be a major “missing” source of global N₂O budget. This presentation covers early representative evidence of N₂O emissions from plants, the mechanisms of N₂O production in plants as well as transport through plants. It also reviews the likely major controlling factors governing N₂O emissions from plants, and presents a conceptual model to integrate the available information. The implication of N₂O emissions from plants on global N₂O budget is discussed.