FACE-N project; Free-Air CO Enrichment study for paddy rice with a focus on its effect on nitrogen cycle

Hayashi, Kentaro*; Hasegawa, Toshihiro*; Tokida, Takeshi*; Ono, Keisuke*; Matsuda, Kazuhide*; Toyoda, Sakae*; Yano, Midori*; Sudo, Shigeto*; Wagai, Rota*; Matsushima, Miwa*; Minamikawa, Kazunori*; Katata, Genki; Iwasaki, Nobusuke*

National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan, established new Free-Air CO Enrichment (FACE) facilities for paddy rice in central Japan (Tsukuba FACE) in April, 2010. Early FACE studies were originally designed to investigate changes in plant growth, crop yield, and carbon cycle under elevated CO and temperature. In addition to these research agenda, a three-year project at Tsukuba FACE that assesses the changes in nitrogen cycle due to climate manipulation (FACE-N) started in April, 2010. The FACE-N project has the following themes: (1) atmosphere-paddy exchange of nitrogen; (2) nitrogen-related processes in a soil-rice system; and (3) development of the sophisticated nitrogen cycling model at a plot scale and of the regional nitrogen assessment system using remote-sensing technique and geographic information system (GIS).