Emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from Antarctic Tundra: role of penguin dropping deposition

During the austral summers of 1999 and 2000, we made measurements of methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from tundra soils in maritime Antarctica, using a static open chamber technique. N2O and CH4 fluxes from the non-ornithogenic moss soils averaged 0.8 and −8.7 μg m−2 h−1, respectively, in the summer of 1999 and 1.4 and 26.7 μg m−2 h−1, respectively, in the summer of 2000. N2O flux from the ornithogenic soils was approximately two orders of magnitude greater than that from moss soils and averaged 89.7 μg m−2 h−1, and CH4 flux was approximately one order of magnitude greater and averaged 227.9 μg m−2 h−1, indicating that high organic carbon and nitrogen compound of penguin droppings deposition in the soils resulted in high CH4 and N2O emissions as a result of biologic transformation. The relationships between the fluxes and environmental factors were discussed.