Soil pH is a good predictor of the dominating N2O production processes under aerobic conditions

It is commonly believed that nitrification is the dominant process for N2O production under aerobic conditions. However, this has been challenged by recent studies on acidic soils, where denitrification has been found to dominate N2O production. Analyzing the data collected from peer‐reviewed literature, we found that pH was a critical factor regulating N2O production pathways under aerobic conditions. There is a pH threshold of approx. 4.4, below which denitrification dominated N2O production and vice versa. A decrease in soil pH can significantly increase the contribution of denitrification to N2O production. Overall, this mini‐review increases our understanding of N2O sources in soils under aerobic conditions.