Capturing Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Microbial Origin, South East Queensland Peri-Urban SuperSite, Samford, 2009-2010

Brief description

In Australia there is an increasing wealth of information on greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural environments but there is limited research on greenhouse gas emissions from natural/native forest ecosystems. Most greenhouse gas field studies are undertaken in agricultural systems under Nitrogen fertilization, representing an expanding source of N2O (Neftel, Flechard et al. 2007). In contrast, tropical rainforest is a significant sink of atmospheric CH4 (Kiese, Hewett et al. 2003), however, there is little information available on subtropical ecosystems. At SERF (Samford Ecological Research Facility) there is a unique subtropical research setting whereby small-scale ecosystems representing land-use change are present side by side. Studies on greenhouse gas emissions and studies on microbial community structure in relation to soil and vegetation parameters are currently mutually exclusive. There is little data on seasonal change in microbial community composition to support chemical flux measurements (Kiese, Hewett et al. 2003; Kulmala, Launiainen et al. 2008). How greatly does the bacterial community composition vary between sites and can it be related to greenhouse gas emissions? Do intensively farmed soils still have the capacity to regain functional physicochemistry and biology (Bardgett & Shine 1999, Loiseau et al 1995, Balesdent et al 1996)? The first aim of this scoping study will be to measure soil greenhouse gas emissions from native forest and adjacent land that has been cleared for pasture. The second aim will be to relate these emissions to microbial community analysis using molecular methods. Data includes Greenhouse Gas fluxes, rainfall, soil physicochemical parameters: pH, temperature, %VWC (Volumetric Water Content), nitrate/ammonia, bulk density, also photos Also have frozen soil samples, DNA extracted from soils, method/reagents for methanotroph PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Also have data for one bench exept which compared Greenhouse Gas fluxes from wetted pasture, forest, tilled, grazed soil cores.