Table 1 Estimates of mean residence time (MRT) of cyanate obtained from two approaches, the urea addition and the tracer experiment.

From: Cyanate is a low abundance but actively cycled nitrogen compound in soil

 

MRT

Gross cyanate production

(h)

(pmol g−1 dw d−1)

Urea addition experiment (0–30 h)

 

26.0

Time interval 0–6 h

3.9

39.1

Time interval 6–12 h

6.5

28.9

Time inverval 12–18 h

20.9

21.1

Time inverval 18–24 h

19.1

15.4

Unamended soil

5.2a

98.8c

24b

21.2c

48b

10.6c

72b

7.1c

  1. aEstimate from tracer addition experiment.
  2. bHigher MRTs assumed for conservative calculations.
  3. cCalculated using MRT assuming steady-state conditions of cyanate in soil solution.
  4. We computed MRTs of cyanate and gross cyanate production rates for 6h-time intervals of the urea addition experiment. For comparative analysis of the rates, we converted them from nmol L−1 soil solution to rates based on a dry soil mass basis. We used MRTs to calculate gross cyanate production rates for unamended soils, assuming steady-state conditions, i.e., production and consumption fluxes are balanced, resulting in no change in cyanate concentration (flux = pool/MRT).
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