Charlotte Decock

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at California Polytechnic State University

Compost application is commonly considered by winegrape producers to improve soil health while sequestering carbon (C) and mitigating climate change. However, inputs of available C and nitrogen (N) as nutrients can induce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O). A 2-year field experiment in a Mediter...

Background and Aims. No-till is considered a core practice of conservation and climate-smart agriculture. Nevertheless, recent evidence suggests that the benefits of this practice for climate change mitigation might be overestimated, particularly in the short term. Methods and Results. In a three-year field experiment, we investigated the environme...

Total denitrification, the natural process capable of removing reactive N from ecosystems through conversion to N2, is one of the most poorly constrained processes in terrestrial N cycling. In situ quantification of total denitrification could help identify mitigation options for N pollution. This study provides proof-of-concept for a novel natural...

As agricultural producers embrace the principles of the circular economy and regenerative practices, the use of organic fertilizers is becoming increasingly common. Composting is a robust, low-cost technology that stabilizes organic waste materials into organic fertilizers that can be safely applied to crops. Numerous experiments carried out in the...

Sheep grazing is increasingly being considered by winegrape growers to manage cover crop growth in Mediterranean vineyards, a practice that could contribute to reducing fertilizer inputs, coupling the cycles of C and N and increasing soil health. Nevertheless, short-term increases in available soil C and N could trigger the emission of greenhouse g...

The use of organic fertilizers constitutes a sustainable strategy to recycle nutrients, increase soil carbon (C) stocks and mitigate climate change. Yet, this depends largely on balance between soil C sequestration and the emissions of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Organic fertilizers strongly influence the microbial processes lead...

A 5-year greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange study of the three major gas species (CO2, CH4 and N2O) from an intensively managed permanent grassland in Switzerland is presented. Measurements comprise 2 years (2010 and 2011) of manual static chamber measurements of CH4 and N2O, 5 years of continuous eddy covariance (EC) measurements (CO2–H2O – 2010–2014),...

Over the past decades, average global wheat yields have increased by about 250 %, mainly due to the cultivation of high-yielding wheat cultivars. This selection process not only affected aboveground parts of plants, but in some cases also reduced root biomass, with potentially large consequences for the amount of organic carbon (OC) transferred to...

A five-year greenhouse gas (GHG) exchange study of the three major gas species (CO2, CH4 and N2O) from an intensively managed permanent grassland in Switzerland is presented. Measurements comprise two years (2010/2011) of manual static chamber measurements of CH4 and N2O, five years of continuous eddy covariance (EC) measurements (CO2/H2O – 2010–20...

The use of sustainable soil management practices is becoming common in wine growing regions around the world in response to an increased awareness of the value of soil health to maintain environmental quality, crop yield, and grape quality. In spite of this, little information is available on the meaning of soil health within a viticultural context...

Abstract. Over the past decades, average global wheat yields have increased by about 250 %, mainly due to the cultivation of high-yielding wheat cultivars. This selection process not only affected aboveground parts of plants, but in some cases also reduced the root biomass, with potentially large consequences for the amount of organic carbon (OC) t...

Soils perform many functions that are vital to societies, among which their capability to regulate global climate has received much attention over the past decades. An assessment of the extent to which soils perform a specific function is not only important to appropriately value their current capacity, but also to make well-informed decisions abou...

Soil moisture strongly affects the balance between nitrification, denitrification and N2O reduction and therefore the nitrogen (N) efficiency and N losses in agricultural systems. In rice systems, there is a need to improve alternative water management practices, which are designed to save water and reduce methane emissions but may increase N2O and...

Smallholder rice farming is characterized by low returns and substantial environmental impact. Conversion to organic management and linking farmers to fair trade markets could offer an alternative. Engaging in certified cash-crop value chains could thereby provide an entry path to simultaneously reduce poverty and improve environmental sustainabili...

Soil moisture strongly affects the balance between nitrification, denitrification and N2O reduction and therefore the nitrogen (N) efficiency and N losses in agricultural systems. In rice systems, there is a need to improve alternative water management practices, which are designed to save water and reduce methane emissions, but may increase N2O an...

There is increasing pressure to reduce water use in irrigated rice production to save water, reduce methane emissions and reduce grain arsenic uptake arising from anaerobic conditions. However, under such practices emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) often increase. Rice systems generally exhibit strong stratification of environmental conditions that...

p>Smallholder farmers may gain notable livelihood benefits by participating in organic value chains. However, whether there are enough resources available to maintain organic production sustainably on smallholder farms in resource-poor regions is of concern. If not balanced by sufficient inputs, continual nutrient export via commodity crops will re...

In rice production, water-saving irrigation management is expanding and likely alters depth profiles of soil moisture, redox potential (Eh) and microbial activity. It is, however, unclear how such conditions then impact net soil N-release and availability to the rice crop, because we do not know well enough how water-saving irrigation management sh...

Smallholder farmers may gain notable livelihood benefits by participating in organic value chains. However, whether there are enough resources available to maintain organic production sustainably on smallholder farms in resource-poor regions is of concern. If not balanced by sufficient inputs, continual nutrient export via commodity crops will resu...

Of the greenhouse gases emitted from cropland, nitrous oxide (N2O) has the highest global warming potential. The state of California acknowledges that agriculture both contributes to and is affected by climate change, and in 2016 it adopted legislation to help growers reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, explicitly including N2O. Nitrous oxide emi...

Almonds are an important commodity in California and account for around 15% of the state’s fertilizer nitrogen (N) consumption. Motivated by strong correlations typically observed between fertilizer N inputs and emissions of the potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting molecule nitrous oxide (N2O), this study aimed to characterize spatial and temp...

Through meta‐analysis, we synthesize results from field studies on the effect of biochar application on N 2 O emissions and crop yield. We aimed to better constrain the effect of biochar on N 2 O emissions under field conditions, identify significant predictor variables, assess potential synergies and tradeoffs between N 2 O mitigation and yield, a...

The nitrogen (N) cycle involves a set of N compounds transformed by plants and microbes. Some of these N compounds, such as nitrous oxide (N2O) or nitrate (NO3⁻), are environmental pollutants jeopardizing biodiversity, human health or the global climate. The natural abundances of the common (¹⁴N) and rare (¹⁵N) stable N isotopes in a given compound...

Rationale: In the last few years, the study of N2 O site-specific nitrogen isotope composition has been established as a powerful technique to disentangle N2 O emission pathways. This trend has been accelerated by significant analytical progress in the field of isotope-ratio mass-spectrometry (IRMS) and more recently quantum cascade laser absorpti...

Further progress in understanding and mitigating N2O emissions from soil lies within transdisciplinary research that reaches across spatial scales and takes an ambitious look into the future.

Further progress in understanding and mitigating N₂O emissions from soil lies within transdisciplinary research that reaches across spatial scales and takes an ambitious look into the future.

The analysis of the four main isotopic N2O species (14N14N16O, 14N15N16O, 15N14N16O, 14N14N18O) and especially the intramolecular distribution of 15N ("site preference", SP) has been suggested as a tool to distinguish source processes and to help constrain the global N2O budget. However, current studies suffer from limited spatial and temporal reso...

The analysis of the four main isotopic N2O species (14N14N16O, 14N15N16O, 15N14N16O, 14N14N18O) and especially the intramolecular distribution of 15N (site preference, SP) has been suggested as a tool to distinguish source processes and to help constrain the global N2O budget. However, current studies suffer from limited spatial and temporal resolu...

One of the unintended nitrogen (N)-loss pathways from cropland is the emission of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas and ozone depleting substance. This study explores the potential of alternative agronomic management practices to mitigate N2O emissions from corn cropping systems in major corn producing regions in the USA and Canada, usin...

Enhancing microbial reduction of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) to N2 could be a promising strategy to mitigate emissions from soils, but N2O reduction rates are currently neither well understood nor quantified. It has been suggested that the importance of N2O reduction to N2 could be estimated from relationships between δ18O and δ15...

In order to accurately predict N2O emissions from agricultural soils and to develop effective management strategies, it is important to understand mechanisms underlying N2O emissions under field conditions. This involves identification of sources of N2O, which is currently methodologically challenging, especially under field conditions. We assessed...

Background and aims Elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) and tropospheric O3 (eO3) can alter soil microbial processes, including those underlying N2O emissions, as an indirect result of changes in plant inputs. In this study, effects of eCO2 and eO3 on sources of N2O in a soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) agroecosystem in Illinois (SoyFACE) were investig...

It has been found that elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (eCO2) and tropospheric ozone (eO3) affect belowground microbial processes, including N transformations, through plant-mediated changes. Conversely, changes in soil organic carbon sequestration and plant biomass production are constrained by N availability. Furthermore, changes in N losses...

Amino sugars in soils have been used as markers of microbial necromass and to determine the relative contribution of bacterial and fungal residues to soil organic matter. However, little is known about the dynamics of amino sugars in soil. This is partly because of a lack of adequate techniques to determine 'turnover rates' of amino sugars in soil....