Terrestrial N₂ O emissions and related functional genes under climate change: A global meta-analysis

Nitrous oxide (N₂ O) emissions from soil contribute to global warming and are in turn substantially affected by climate change. However, climate change impacts on N₂ O production across terrestrial ecosystems remain poorly understood. Here, we synthesized 46 published studies of N₂ O fluxes and relevant soil functional genes (SFGs, that is, archaeal amoA, bacterial amoA, nosZ, narG, nirK and nirS) to assess their responses to increased temperature, increased or decreased precipitation amounts, and prolonged drought (no change in total precipitation but increase in precipitation intervals) in terrestrial ecosystem (i.e. grasslands, forests, shrublands, tundra and croplands). Across the data set, temperature increased N₂ O emissions by 33%. However, the effects were highly variable across biomes, with strongest temperature responses in shrublands, variable responses in forests and negative responses in tundra. The warming methods employed also influenced the effects of temperature on N₂ O emissions (most effectively induced by open-top chambers). Whole-day or whole-year warming treatment significantly enhanced N₂ O emissions, but daytime, nighttime or short-season warming did not have significant effects. Regardless of biome, treatment method and season, increased precipitation promoted N₂ O emission by an average of 55%, while decreased precipitation suppressed N₂ O emission by 31%, predominantly driven by changes in soil moisture. The effect size of precipitation changes on nirS and nosZ showed a U-shape relationship with soil moisture; further insight into biotic mechanisms underlying N₂ O emission response to climate change remain limited by data availability, underlying a need for studies that report SFG. Our findings indicate that climate change substantially affects N₂ O emission and highlights the urgent need to incorporate this strong feedback into most climate models for convincing projection of future climate change.