Precipitation Patterns and Their Role in Modulating Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Arid Desert Soil

Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) ranks as the third most significant greenhouse gas, capable of depleting the ozone layer and posing threats to terrestrial ecosystems. Climate change alters precipitation variability, notably in terms of frequency and magnitude. However, the implications of precipitation variability on N 2 O emissions and the underlying mechanisms remain inadequately understood. In this study, employing laboratory incubation methods on three representative sandy soil types (sandy soil, shrub soil, and crust soil), we examined the impacts of diverse precipitation levels (5 mm and 10 mm) and frequencies (7 days and 14 days) on N 2 O emissions from these soil types. This study aims to clarify the complex connections between soil N 2 O emission fluxes and soil physicochemical properties in the soil environment. Our findings reveal that the N 2 O emission flux exhibits heightened responsiveness to 5 mm precipitation events and a 14-day precipitation frequency, and compared to other treatments, the 5 mm precipitation and 14-day precipitation frequency treatment resulted in a 20% increase in cumulative nitrous oxide emissions. Consequently, cumulative N 2 O emissions were notably elevated under the 5 mm precipitation and 14-day precipitation frequency treatments compared to the other experimental conditions. The N 2 O emission flux in sandy soil displayed a positive correlation with available phosphorus (AP) and a negative correlation with pH, primarily attributed to the exceedingly low AP content in sandy soil. In shrub soil, the soil N 2 O emission flux exhibited a significant positive correlation with NH 4 + -N and a negative correlation with NO 3 − -N. Conversely, no significant correlations were observed between soil N 2 O emission flux and soil physicochemical properties in crust soil, underscoring the importance of considering plant–soil microbial interactions. Our findings suggest that soil nitrous oxide emissions in arid and semi-arid regions will be particularly responsive to small and frequent rainfall events as precipitation patterns change in the future, primarily due to their soil physicochemical characteristics.