Coupled abiotic-biotic cycling of nitrous oxide in tropical peatlands

Abstract Atmospheric nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a potent greenhouse gas thought to be mainly derived from microbial metabolism as part of the denitrification pathway. Here, we report that in unexplored peat soils of Central and South America, N 2 O production can be driven by abiotic reactions (≤ 98 %) highly competitive to their enzymatic counterparts. Extracted soil iron positively correlated with in-situ abiotic N 2 O production determined by isotopic tracers. Moreover, we found that microbial N 2 O reduction accompanied abiotic production, essentially closing a coupled abiotic-biotic N 2 O cycle. Anaerobic N 2 O consumption occurred ubiquitously (pH 6.4-3.7), with proportions of diverse clade II N 2 O-reducers increasing with consumption rates. Our findings show denitrification in tropical peat soils is not a purely biological process, but rather a “mosaic” of abiotic and biotic reduction reactions. We predict hydrological and temperature fluctuations differentially affect abiotic and biotic drivers and further contribute to the high N 2 O flux variation in the region.