Nitrous oxide (N2O; laughing gas) has been a widely used anesthetic/analgesic since the 19th century, although its cellular mechanism of action is not understood. Here we characterize the effects of N2O on excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in microcultures of rat hippocampal neurons, a preparation in which anesthetic effects on monosynaptic communication can be examined in a setti...

Emissions of N2O from soils of the Southwestern US are thought to result from the activity of anaerobic denitrifying bacteria, but the seasonal dryness and sandy texture of these soils are more conducive to the activities of aerobic microbes. Here, we present incubations of semiarid soils with added compounds known to stimulate the N-cycling processes ammonification (proteins, oligopeptides, an...

Agricultural soils are the most important anthropogenic source of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere. We observed large shifts with time in the emission rate (from 170 to 16 ng N cm−2 h−1) and in δ15N of N2O emitted (from −46‰ to +5‰ relative to atmospheric N2) from a urea-fertilized and irrigated agricultural field in Mexico. We calculated overall instantaneous enrichment factors for the sampling...

Nitrous oxide (N2O)-reducing bacteria, which reduce N2O to nitrogen in the absence of oxygen, are phylogenetically spread throughout various taxa and have a potential role as N2O sinks in the environment. However, research on their physiological traits has been limited. In particular, their activities under microaerophilic and aerobic conditions, which severely inhibit N2O reduction, remain poo...

Context Abstract: Nitrous oxide (NO2) is a potent greenhouse gas whose atmospheric budget is poorly constrained. One known atmospheric source is the formation of N2O on three-way motor vehicle catalytic converters followed by emission with the exhaust. Previous estimates of the magnitude of this N2O source have varied widely. Two methods employing tunable infrared lasers to measure N2O/CO2 rati...

Abiotic conversion of the reactive nitrification intermediate hydroxylamine (NH2OH) to nitrous oxide (N2O) is a possible mechanism of N2O formation during nitrification. Previous research has demonstrated that manganese dioxide (MnO2) and organic matter (OM) content of soil as well as soil pH are important control variables of N2O formation in the soil. But until now, their combined effect on a...

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from grazing animal excreta are estimated to be responsible for 1.5 Tg of the total 6.7 Tg of anthropogenic N2O emissions. This study was conducted to determine the in situ effect of incorporating biochar, into soil, on N2O emissions from bovine urine patches and associated pasture uptake of N. The effects of biochar rate (0-30 t ha(-1)), following soil incorporati...

Soil is a significant source of atmospheric N2O, and soil N2O emissions at a global scale are greatly affected by environment changes that include continuous deposition of atmospheric nitrogen and changing precipitation distribution. However, to date, field simulations of multiple factors that control the interaction between nitrogen deposition and precipitation on forest soil N2O emissions are...

N2O emission in the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is of growing concern. In this study, effects of substrate concentrations on N2O emissions were investigated in an anammox reactor. Extremely high N2O emissions of 1.67 % were led by high NH4-N concentrations. Results showed that N2O emissions have a positive correlation with NH4-N concentrations in the anammox reactor. Reducing...

Agricultural soil is the largest source of nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas. Soybean is an important leguminous crop worldwide. Soybean hosts symbiotic nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria (rhizobia) in root nodules. In soybean ecosystems, N2O emissions often increase during decomposition of the root nodules. Our previous study showed that N2O reductase can be used to mitigate N2O emission from s...