Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Turfgrass Lawns as a Result of Fertilizer Application:A Meta-Analysis of Available Literature


Affiliations
1 School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc Campus, Bengaluru 560 012, India
2 Indian Institute of Management (IIM) -Bangalore, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru 560 076, India
 

Urban turfgrass lawns are known to contribute towards global anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions. However, available literature on lawn N2O emissions is varied and inconclusive. To our knowledge, an effort to compile and understand urban lawn N2O emissions is, as yet, lacking. In th e present article, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of lawn fertilizer application on N2O emissions relative to no-fertilizer application, along with an examination of the variation of this effect with respect to the type and amount of fertilizer. The results show that lawn N2O emissions from fertilized plots are significant and are 41% (0.29 g N2O–N/m 2 /year) higher than that of control plots. However, studies with low N -input (<150 kg/ha) show higher percentage (40) of N2O emission than those with high N-input (22). Further , N2O emissions are higher for urea application plots (37%) compared to other -than-urea plots (30%), which consisted mostly of enhanced efficiency fertilizer plots. Overall, the results of this meta -analysis under-score current understand ings of the effect of fertilizer on soil N2O emissions, although it indicates that fertilizer amount is not the only driver of lawn N2O emissions. Also, the sub-group analysis of fertilizer type reinforces the importance of enhanced eff iciency fertilizers in reducing emissio ns which has clear policy implications. To improve our understan ding of lawn N2O emissions, more long-term studies that are well-documented, and geographically widespread, are re commended to build a database that can reduce uncertainties and facilitate lon g-term evaluations.

Keywords

Fertilizer, Meta-Analysis, Nitrous Oxide, Turfgrass Lawn, Urban.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Galloway, J. N., Aber, J. D., Erisman, J. W., Seitzinger, S. P., Howarth, R. W., Cowling, E. B. and Cosby, B. J., The nitrogen cascade. AIBS Bull., 2003, 53, 341–356.

  • Fowler, D., Coyle, M., Skiba, U., Sutton, M. A., Cape, J. N., Reis, S. and Vitousek, P., The global nitrogen cycle in the twenty-first century. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B, 2013, 368, 20130164.

  • Wang, W., Haver, D. and Pataki, D. E., Nitrogen budgets of urban lawns under three different management regimes in southern California. Biogeochemistry, 2014, 121, 127–148.

  • Bouwman, A. F., Beusen, A. H. W., Griffioen, J., Van Groenigen, J. W., Hefting, M. M., Oenema, O. and Stehfest, E., Global trends and uncertainties in terrestrial denitrification and N 2O emissions. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B, 2012, 368, 20130112.

  • Ciais, P. et al., Carbon and other biogeochemical cycles. In Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (eds Stocker, T. F. et al.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 2013.

  • Butterbach-Bahl, K., Baggs, E. M., Dannenmann, M., Kiese, R. and Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Nitrous oxide emissions from soils: how well do we understand the processes and their controls? Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London B, 2013, 368, 20130122.

  • Smith, K. A., Changing views of nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural soil: key controlling processes and assessment at different spatial scales. Eur. J. Soil Sci., 2017, 68, 137–155.

  • Syakila, A. and Kroeze, C., The global nitrous oxide budget revisited. Greenhouse Gas Measure. Manage., 2011, 1, 17–26.

  • Davidson, E. A. and Kanter, D., Inventories and scenarios of nitrous oxide emissions. Environ. Res. Lett., 2004, 9, 105012.

  • Kaye, J. P., Burke, I. C., Mosier, A. R. and Pablo Guerschman, J., Methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from urban soils to the atmosphere. Ecol. Appl., 2004, 14, 975–981.

  • Townsend‐Small, A., Pataki, D. E., Czimczik, C. I. and Tyler, S. C., Nitrous oxide emissions and isotopic composition in urban and agricultural systems in southern California. J. Geophys. Res.: Biogeosci., 2011, 116.

  • Braun, R. C. and Bremer, D. J., Nitrous oxide emissions in turfgrass systems: a review. Agron. J., 2018, 110, 2222–2232.

  • Robbins, P. and Birkenholtz, T., Turfgrass revolution: measuring the expansion of the American lawn. Land Use Policy, 2003, 20, 181–194.

  • Milesi, C., Running, S. W., Elvidge, C. D., Dietz, J. B., Tuttle, B. T. and Nemani, R. R., Mapping and modeling the biogeochemical cycling of turf grasses in the United States. Environ. Manage., 2005, 36, 426–438.

  • Stewart, G. H., Ignatieva, M. E., Meurk, C. D., Buckley, H., Horne, B. and Braddick, T., URban Biotopes of Aotearoa New Zealand (URBANZ)(I): composition and diversity of temperate urban lawns in Christchurch. Urban Ecosyst., 2009, 12, 233–248.

  • Koch, N., The violence of spectacle: Statist schemes to green the desert and constructing Astana and Ashgabat as urban oases. Soc. Cult. Geogr., 2015, 16, 675–697.

  • Ignatieva, M., Ahrné, K., Wissman, J., Eriksson, T., Tidåker, P., Hedblom, M. and Bengtsson, J., Lawn as a cultural and ecological phenomenon: a conceptual framework for transdisciplinary research. Urban Forest. Urban Green., 2015, 14, 383–387.

  • Dutt, N., Being Green? Seminar, 2017, 694, 50–54.

  • Koricheva, J., Gurevitch, J. and Mengersen, K. (eds), Handbook of Meta-Analysis in Ecology and Evolution, Princeton University Press, 2013.

  • Last, J. M., Abramson, J. H. and Freidman, G. D. (eds), A Dictionary of Epidemiology, Oxford University Press, New York, 2001.

  • Borenstein, M., Hedges, L. V., Higgins, J. and Rothstein, H. R. (eds), References, John Wiley, 2009, pp. 409–414.

  • Fisher, M., Moving science through: meta-analysis. Crops, Soils, Agron. News, 2015, 60, 4–9.

  • StataCorp, Stata Statistical Software: Release 12, College Station, TX: StataCorp LP, 2011.

  • Raciti, S. M., Burgin, A. J., Groffman, P. M., Lewis, D. N. and Fahey, T. J., Denitrification in suburban lawn soils. J. Environ. Qual., 2011, 40, 1932–1940.

  • Bergstrom, D. W., Tenuta, M. and Beauchamp, E. G., Nitrous oxide production and flux from soil under sod following applic ation of different nitrogen fertilizers. Commun. Soil Sci. Plant Analysis, 2001, 32, 553–570.

  • Thapa, R., Chatterjee, A., Awale, R., McGranahan, D. A. and Daigh, A., Effect of enhanced efficiency fertilizers on nitrous oxide emissions and crop yields: a meta -analysis. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 2016, 80, 1121–1134.

  • Bouwman, A. F., Boumans, L. J. M. and Batjes, N. H., Emissions of N2O and NO from fertilized fields: summary of available measurement data. Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 2002, 16.

  • Linquist, B. A., Adviento-Borbe, M. A., Pittelkow, C. M., van Kessel, C. and van Groenigen, K. J., Fertilizer management pra c-tices and greenhouse gas emissions from rice systems: a quantit a-tive review and analysis. Field Crops Res., 2012, 135, 10–21.

  • Groffman, P. M., Williams, C. O., Pouyat, R. V., Band, L. E. and Yesilonis, I. D., Nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide flux in urban forests and grasslands. J. Environ. Qual., 2009, 38, 1848–1860.

  • Crane, J. W., The Thermo-climatic cost of a lush, green lawn: characterizing N2O emissions from lawns, Doctoral dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 2014.

  • LeMonte, J. J., Jolley, V. D., Summerhays, J. S., Terry, R. E. and Hopkins, B. G., Polymer coated urea in turfgrass maintains vigor and mitigates nitrogen’s environmental impacts. PLoS ONE, 2016, 11, e0146761.

  • Gillette, K., The Colorado Golf Carbon Project, Doctoral dissertation, Colorado State University, 2014.

  • Matthias, A. D., Blackmer, A. M. and Bremner, J. M., Diurnal variability in the concentration of nitrous oxide in surface air. Geophys. Res. Lett., 1979, 6, 441–443.

  • Livesley, S. J., Dougherty, B. J., Smith, A. J., Navaud, D., Wylie, L. J. and Arndt, S. K., Soil-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in urban garden systems: impact of irrigation, fertiliser and mulch. Urban Ecosyst., 2010, 13, 273– 293.

  • McPhillips, L. E., Groffman, P. M., Schneider, R. L. and Walter, M. T., Nutrient cycling in grassed roadside ditches and lawns in a suburban watershed. J. Environ. Qual., 2016, 45, 1901–1909.

  • Garrison, M. and Soldat, D., Nitrous oxide emissions from cool-season turfgrass managed with organic and synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Turfgrass Environ. Res. Online, 2014, 13.

  • Walker, K. S. and Smith, K. E., The Effects of Cultivation Practices and Fertilizer use on the Mitigation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Kentucky Bluegrass Athletic Fields, University of Minnesota, 2014.

  • Braun, R. and Bremer, D., Nitrous Oxide Emissions in Turfgrass: Effects of Irrigation and Nitrogen Fertilization, Kansas State University, 2016.

  • Nahas, A., Walker, J. T., Yelverton, F. and Aneja, V. P., Characterization of reactive nitrogen emissions from turfgrass. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, 2018.


Abstract Views: 340

PDF Views: 112




  • Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Turfgrass Lawns as a Result of Fertilizer Application:A Meta-Analysis of Available Literature

Abstract Views: 340  |  PDF Views: 112

Authors

Neesha Dutt
School of Natural Sciences and Engineering, National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc Campus, Bengaluru 560 012, India
Tushar Tanwar
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) -Bangalore, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru 560 076, India

Abstract


Urban turfgrass lawns are known to contribute towards global anthropogenic nitrous oxide emissions. However, available literature on lawn N2O emissions is varied and inconclusive. To our knowledge, an effort to compile and understand urban lawn N2O emissions is, as yet, lacking. In th e present article, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effect of lawn fertilizer application on N2O emissions relative to no-fertilizer application, along with an examination of the variation of this effect with respect to the type and amount of fertilizer. The results show that lawn N2O emissions from fertilized plots are significant and are 41% (0.29 g N2O–N/m 2 /year) higher than that of control plots. However, studies with low N -input (<150 kg/ha) show higher percentage (40) of N2O emission than those with high N-input (22). Further , N2O emissions are higher for urea application plots (37%) compared to other -than-urea plots (30%), which consisted mostly of enhanced efficiency fertilizer plots. Overall, the results of this meta -analysis under-score current understand ings of the effect of fertilizer on soil N2O emissions, although it indicates that fertilizer amount is not the only driver of lawn N2O emissions. Also, the sub-group analysis of fertilizer type reinforces the importance of enhanced eff iciency fertilizers in reducing emissio ns which has clear policy implications. To improve our understan ding of lawn N2O emissions, more long-term studies that are well-documented, and geographically widespread, are re commended to build a database that can reduce uncertainties and facilitate lon g-term evaluations.

Keywords


Fertilizer, Meta-Analysis, Nitrous Oxide, Turfgrass Lawn, Urban.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi8%2F1219-1226