High rates of denitrification and nitrous oxide emission in biological soil crusts from the
Sultanate of Oman — University of Southern Denmark … High rates of denitrification and nitrous
oxide emission in biological soil crusts from the Sultanate of Oman … Department of Biology …

Using a combination of process rate determination, microsensor profiling and molecular
techniques, we demonstrated that denitrification, and not anaerobic ammonium oxidation
(anammox), is the major nitrogen loss process in biological soil crusts from Oman. Potential
denitrification rates were 584±101 and 58±20 μmol N m− 2 h− 1 for cyanobacterial and
lichen crust, respectively. Complete denitrification to N2 was further confirmed by an
15NO3− tracer experiment with intact crust pieces that proceeded at rates of 103±19 and …