Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils
- Author
- Dries Huygens (UGent) , Pascal Boeckx (UGent) , Pamela Templer, Leandro Paulino, Oswald Van Cleemput (UGent) , Carlos Oyarzún, Christoph Müller and Roberto Godoy
- Organization
- Abstract
- Nitrogen cycling is an important aspect of forest ecosystem functioning. Pristine temperate rainforests have been shown to produce large amounts of bioavailable nitrogen, but despite high nitrogen turnover rates, loss of bioavailable nitrogen is minimal in these ecosystems. This tight nitrogen coupling is achieved through fierce competition for bioavailable nitrogen by abiotic processes, soil microbes and plant roots, all of which transfer bioavailable nitrogen to stable nitrogen sinks, such as soil organic matter and above-ground forest vegetation. Here, we use a combination of in situ N-15 isotope dilution and N-15 tracer techniques in volcanic soils of a temperate evergreen rainforest in southern Chile to further unravel retention mechanisms for bioavailable nitrogen. We find three processes that contribute significantly to nitrogen bioavailability in rainforest soils: heterotrophic nitrate production, nitrate turnover into ammonium and into a pool of dissolved organic nitrogen that is not prone to leaching loss, and finally, the decoupling of dissolved inorganic nitrogen turnover and leaching losses of dissolved organic nitrogen. Identification of these biogeochemical processes helps explain the retention of bioavailable nitrogen in pristine temperate rainforests.
- Keywords
- DISSOLVED ORGANIC-MATTER, SOUTHERN CHILE, POOL DILUTION, PLANTATION FORESTS, TEMPERATE FORESTS, NITRATE, N-15, NITRIFICATION, ECOSYSTEMS, IMMOBILIZATION
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-525378
- MLA
- Huygens, Dries, et al. “Mechanisms for Retention of Bioavailable Nitrogen in Volcanic Rainforest Soils.” NATURE GEOSCIENCE, vol. 1, no. 8, 2008, pp. 543–48, doi:10.1038/ngeo252.
- APA
- Huygens, D., Boeckx, P., Templer, P., Paulino, L., Van Cleemput, O., Oyarzún, C., … Godoy, R. (2008). Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils. NATURE GEOSCIENCE, 1(8), 543–548. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo252
- Chicago author-date
- Huygens, Dries, Pascal Boeckx, Pamela Templer, Leandro Paulino, Oswald Van Cleemput, Carlos Oyarzún, Christoph Müller, and Roberto Godoy. 2008. “Mechanisms for Retention of Bioavailable Nitrogen in Volcanic Rainforest Soils.” NATURE GEOSCIENCE 1 (8): 543–48. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo252.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Huygens, Dries, Pascal Boeckx, Pamela Templer, Leandro Paulino, Oswald Van Cleemput, Carlos Oyarzún, Christoph Müller, and Roberto Godoy. 2008. “Mechanisms for Retention of Bioavailable Nitrogen in Volcanic Rainforest Soils.” NATURE GEOSCIENCE 1 (8): 543–548. doi:10.1038/ngeo252.
- Vancouver
- 1.Huygens D, Boeckx P, Templer P, Paulino L, Van Cleemput O, Oyarzún C, et al. Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils. NATURE GEOSCIENCE. 2008;1(8):543–8.
- IEEE
- [1]D. Huygens et al., “Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils,” NATURE GEOSCIENCE, vol. 1, no. 8, pp. 543–548, 2008.
@article{525378, abstract = {{Nitrogen cycling is an important aspect of forest ecosystem functioning. Pristine temperate rainforests have been shown to produce large amounts of bioavailable nitrogen, but despite high nitrogen turnover rates, loss of bioavailable nitrogen is minimal in these ecosystems. This tight nitrogen coupling is achieved through fierce competition for bioavailable nitrogen by abiotic processes, soil microbes and plant roots, all of which transfer bioavailable nitrogen to stable nitrogen sinks, such as soil organic matter and above-ground forest vegetation. Here, we use a combination of in situ N-15 isotope dilution and N-15 tracer techniques in volcanic soils of a temperate evergreen rainforest in southern Chile to further unravel retention mechanisms for bioavailable nitrogen. We find three processes that contribute significantly to nitrogen bioavailability in rainforest soils: heterotrophic nitrate production, nitrate turnover into ammonium and into a pool of dissolved organic nitrogen that is not prone to leaching loss, and finally, the decoupling of dissolved inorganic nitrogen turnover and leaching losses of dissolved organic nitrogen. Identification of these biogeochemical processes helps explain the retention of bioavailable nitrogen in pristine temperate rainforests.}}, author = {{Huygens, Dries and Boeckx, Pascal and Templer, Pamela and Paulino, Leandro and Van Cleemput, Oswald and Oyarzún, Carlos and Müller, Christoph and Godoy, Roberto}}, issn = {{1752-0894}}, journal = {{NATURE GEOSCIENCE}}, keywords = {{DISSOLVED ORGANIC-MATTER,SOUTHERN CHILE,POOL DILUTION,PLANTATION FORESTS,TEMPERATE FORESTS,NITRATE,N-15,NITRIFICATION,ECOSYSTEMS,IMMOBILIZATION}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{8}}, pages = {{543--548}}, title = {{Mechanisms for retention of bioavailable nitrogen in volcanic rainforest soils}}, url = {{http://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo252}}, volume = {{1}}, year = {{2008}}, }
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