This article looks into bamboo and the nitrogen cycle.

It is based on the findings of a recently released paper by Song, et al you can find a link to this paper below.

Nitrogen addition increased CO2 uptake more than non-CO2 greenhouse gases emissions in a Moso bamboo forest

To set the scene as to why this is important, methane and nitrous oxide contribute to more than one-quarter of anthropogenic global warming. This is why research into this area is so important.

Their study quantified the effects of nitrogen deposition on biomass increment, soil organic carbon, and nitrous oxide and methane fluxes and, ultimately, the net greenhouse budget at an ecosystem level for a Moso bamboo forest in China.

Their research showed that nitrogen addition significantly increased woody biomass increment and soil organic carbon decomposition, increased nitrous oxide emission, and reduced soil methane uptake.

Their overall finding for a carbon budget for a Moso bamboo forest was the following:

“Despite higher N2O and CH4 fluxes, the ecosystem remained a net GHG sink of 26.8 to 29.4 megagrams of CO2 equivalent hectare−1 year−1 after 4 years of N addition against 22.7 hectare−1 year−1 without N addition. The total net carbon benefits induced by atmospheric N deposition at current rates of 30 kilograms of N hectare−1 year−1 over Moso bamboo forests across China were estimated to be of 23.8 teragrams of CO2 equivalent year−1.”

Their data provides new evidence of the effects of nitrogen deposition on net ecosystem carbon uptake of Moso bamboo forests.

What you need to know

This article looked into bamboo and the nitrogen cycle.

It was based on a recently published academic paper in Science Advances.

Their research showed that Nitrogen addition can positively influence a number of important parameters.

Their research also showed how important the significant carbon storage benefits of Moso Bamboo are.

Overall, this research is important in solidifying bamboo’s reputation as the world’s most sustainable material.

Thank you for reading,

By Barnaby Nash

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