Objective
The goals of the proposed project are to :
A. determine the rates of atmospheric NH3 dry deposition to sensitive semi-natural ecosystems in Europe.
B. quantify the net exchange of NH3 over managed agricultural ecosystems in Europe.
C. identify the environmental and biological parameters controlling the deposition/emission of NH3 within terrestrial ecosystems.
D. generate a mechanistic basis for describing NH3 surface/atmosphere exchange within models of atmospheric deposition.
The core of the project is the measurement of NH3 fluxes by micrometeorological techniques over a wide range of ecosystem types (semi-natural moorlands and grasslands, arable croplands and grazed pastures) for a large geographical range of European conditions. This work will be supported by detailed measurement of environmental conditions (e.g. sensible and latent heat fluxes, energy balance, bulk canopy resistances to water vapour loss), together with key measures of plant and soil nitrogen status related to ecosystem type and management (e.g. plant phenology, foliar and soil nitrogen contents, foliar enzyme activity, soil structure and pH). Ammonia fluxes are well suited to field measurement by micrometeorological techniques and these will therefore form the main thrust of the measurement activities. These field measurements will be completed by detailed laboratory experiments of ammonia fluxes using chamber techniques, which will aim to characterize the plant physiological processes controlling NH3 fluxes, for both native and agricultural plant species.
Fields of science
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
EH26 0QB PENICUIK
United Kingdom