Effects and mechanism of freeze-thawing cycles on the soil N2O fluxes in the temperate semi-arid steppe

High nitrous oxide （N20） emissions during freeze-thawing period （FFP） have been observed in many different ecosystems. However, the knowledge about the dynamic of soil N20 emissions and its main driving mechanism during the freeze-thawing processes in grassland ecosystem is still limited. An in-situ experiment was conducted during the FTP on the sites with 0 and 15% surplus of the average rainfall and two levels of N addition （0,10 g N/（m2-year）） during growing season （marked as WON0, WISN0, WONI0, WISNI0, respectively） to explore the effects of water and N background on soil N20 emissions during FTPs and the relationship between soil N20 emissions and environmental factors. The results indicated that water and N treatments conducted during growing season did not show significant effect on the N20 effluxes of FTP, but the soil mineral N contents of WONI0 treatment were significantly higher than those of WON0, WI5N0, WI5NI0 treatments （p 〈 0.05）. The soil PLFA concentrations of microbial groups monitored during 2015 spring freeze-thawing period （2015S-FTP） were lower than those during winter freeze-thawing period of 2014 （2014W-FTP）, while cumulative soil N20 emissions of 2015S-FTP were higher than those of 2014W-FFP. The correlations between soil N20 effluxes and most of the measured environmental factors were insignificant, multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that the soil temperature, soil NH$-N content and air temperature were the major environmental factors which significantly influenced the N20 effluxes during 2014W-FTP, and air temperature and son water content were the significant influencing factors during 2015S-FTP.