I am writing a dissertation on greenhouse gas emissions of anecic earthworms in no-till soil. I need to measure volume of CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from the earthworm burrows and from the adjacent non-midden area.
I do not have access to any spectroscopy devices including Gas Chromatography and most of the research I have come across uses this method. I am looking into water displacement/ volume capacitance methods, but I am not able to find a way to do this which will work in soil.
If you have any ideas about how to measure GHG from soil cheaply and easily, please let me know!!! I would love to see some picture or diagrams and hear from anyone that has tried this!
Yes, soda-lime powder or NaOH solutions would be my systems of choice. You still need a pump and a titration system. You should look probably on the old literature (pre 1985 ) literature or for people interested in 14C dating of respired CO2 for practical implementation.
As a kind of warning, your material costs for small accessories add easily up and it may be cheaper to find a lab that analyses your samples in a gas chromatograph for money,
Thankyou for the suggestions, unfortunately I may have to consider even simpler methods as the experiment needs to be done overtop of the earthworm burrows at an organic farm. I'm not able to use pumps, any chemicals etc.
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