Prof. Peter Dörsch, a senior scientist with the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences of Norwegian University of Life Sciences（UMB）, visited Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) during July 13-20. He and Dr. Jing Zhu came to XTBG to design experiment for the project “N2O emissions and key controlling factors in forested catchments; a comparison of tropical with sub-tropical and temperate regions in China”.
In Xishuangbanna, the study will be conducted on the tropical rainforest catchment and linked to the project “Forest in south China: An important sink for reactive nitrogen and a regional hotspot for N2O?” funded by the Norwegian Research Council and Chinese Academy of Sciences (209696/E10). The researchers plan to determine the strength of N2O fluxes, natural abundance isotope signatures of NO3- as well as controlling ancillary soil parameters along a hydrological continuum from hill slopes to groundwater discharge zones.
Meanwhile, through laboratory incubations, using automated equipment, the apparent enzyme kinetics of nitrification and denitrification and inherent denitrification product ratios N2O/ N2 will also be investigated and compared with observations for the other sites in selected subtropical and temperate forests of China. The study will give a better understanding of N budget and of quantitative importance of N2O emission and its major source areas.
During the stay in XTBG, Prof. Peter Dörsch and Dr. Jing Zhu made field trips to the monitoring facilities in the tropical rainforest and rubber forest, and monitoring plots for CH4 and N2O.
Prof. Peter Dörsch made a speech entitled “Multiple approaches to study nitrogen cycling in soils” at XTBG Seminar. He also exchanged ideas with some scientists of XTBG.
Visiting experiment plot in the tropical rainforest
Experiment designing.
Prof. Peter Dörsch visiting the Central Laboratory
Prof. Peter Dörsch speaking at XTBG Seminar
